Revelation of Silence
by Echelon9
Summary: 20 years after Aizen survives the Winter War, an unlikely source leads the Soul Society into believing that he may be involved in a war between ninja nations in the world of the living.
1. Story Notes

**Story Notes**

With my other story on hold due to lack of interest, I'd thought I'd try my hand with a Bleach and Naruto crossover that I've wanted to write for a while now. I've put allot of time and effort into this story, trying to balance out the aspects of both shows into a story that I believe would represent both fairly well.

This story is different from many of the other stories that I've read in this section; so if you're tired of reading stories with plots that focus around X Naruto character becoming a soul reaper, then give this story a shot.

The time frame of this story, the Naruto world is completely up to date with the current manga; while the Bleach world is set twenty years after the current Winter War, so expect some implied changes. This story may change, as the Bleach and Naruto series come to a close. The eras of both the Soul Society, and the world of Naruto, both appear to be the same; so expect places like Karakura Town to appear not quite as modern as it does in the anime.

There is one original character in this story; however, the story itself will not directly revolve around her, at least in later chapters. It is this OC that is directly responsible for setting off the chain of events for this story.

**Plot Summary**

Following the conclusion of the Winter War; Sosuke Aizen has been defeated, but not destroyed. With his last ounce of strength, he manages to escape, but not without serious repercussions. The Soul Society has spent the last two decades searching for Aizen, but with no luck. An unlikely lead directs their attention to the World of the Living, and a war between ninja nations. Believing the ninja's to have stumbled upon a power that could bring Armageddon to the World of the Living; the Soul Society makes its move, believing Aizen to be directly involved. They fear that Aizen could also use the same power to destroy the Soul Society, and become absolute ruler of the afterlife.

I own neither the characters from Naruto or Bleach, the series belong to Masashi Kishimoto and Tite Kubo respectively. This story is fanmade, and nonprofit.


	2. The Hunt for Aizen

The Hunt for Aizen

Soul reapers are the beings in charge of ferrying souls to the afterlife. They are essentially the agents of Death, rather than the incarnations of the entity itself. Their effects on humans and the world of the living go largely unnoticed. Only humans with spiritual energy are seemingly the only ones who notice the soul reapers, and their duties.

These duties include transporting good souls to the afterlife, while cleansing evil souls. Evil souls that have transformed themselves into hollows are killed, and purified before being sent the afterlife. Good souls that emit strong spirit energy are sent to the Soul Society; perhaps one day, those souls would become new soul reapers.

Twenty years ago, the Soul Society, the home of the soul reapers, found itself thrown into chaos when three high ranking captains suddenly betrayed their allies, deflecting to lead an army of menos and hollows in open rebellion. Sosuke Aizen was the mastermind behind the entire operation; it was his eventual goal to overthrow the reigning king of the Soul Society, and become supreme ruler of the afterlife. In order to do this, he used the power of the hougyoku, a crystal that removes the boundary between hollows and shinigami; thus the arrancars, and their counterparts, the vizards, were born.

These chain of events, sparked a brutal war between Aizen and Soul Society, called the Winter War. When the dust had finally settled, Aizen was defeated, but not destroyed, and he managed to escape the full fury of the Soul Society. The hougyoku had been stolen from Aizen at one point; however, he managed to repossess the crystal, but not before it had been damaged.

Both sides suffered heavy casualties and losses. Nearly all of Aizen's arrancar army had been decimated; even the Espada, the strongest warriors in his army, had all been killed. The Soul Society lost two of their best captains, and one lieutenant; leaving gaping holes in many of the court squad divisions. As a result, a number of the vizards were reinstated, in order to fill the gaps that had been created.

Two decades later, the affects of the war could still be seen, as emotional burdens lay heavy on many of the soul reapers; Aizen was still alive, biding his time to attack the Soul Society again in the future.

* * *

Lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto sighs, as she pulls open the door leading to her captain's barracks. Normally, he'd be the one to track her down and yell at her for not doing her job; however, her captain just wasn't the same anymore, not since the war.

She finds her captain leaning back in his chair with his feet propped up on his desk. His eyes drifted lazily from his window, to a small shrine on his desk with a photo in it.

"Captain?"

Her voice was soft as she approached. "The captain's meeting will be starting soon, just giving you a heads up."

"I'm well aware; in fact, I was just on my way out."

Toshiro's voice was dry; he never cried, or showed much emotion, but Rangiku could tell he was being torn apart on the inside. Even though two decades had passed since the war, twenty years for a soul reaper, would seem like no more than a year or two for a human.

"It wasn't your fault"

"Excuse me?" Toshiro's gaze rose to meet his lieutenants.

"Momo's death wasn't your fault, it was her decision to go out the way she did; I believe in my heart that she died happy, at least knowing that she gave her life to protect her friends."

Toshiro scoffs at the ridiculous remark.

"Happy? What a load of crap! You think Momo would be happy that she gave her life for nothing, knowing that I… no, that we failed to kill Aizen. I won't be happy for her, until I see that asshole dead!"

He slams his fist on the desk; causing Rangiku to take a step back in surprise. Toshiro looks at her solemnly.

"I'm sorry Rangiku, I shouldn't have snapped. Momo was my family, and when she died, a part of me died as well. I won't be able to move forward until Aizen pays for all the pain he's caused."

He shut the door of the shrine, and rose from his chair. Rangiku could only stare at the ground; Momo's death had caused shockwaves to rip through the hearts of the soul reapers. Even to the day, Rangiku still wept for the tragic loss of her friend.

Toshiro made his way out, and shut the door behind him.

* * *

Commander Yamamoto sits at the head of the table located in the prestigious meeting hall, reserved for acting captains only. Starting from his left, and going around the table, the rest of the captains sat in order of their divisions. Soifon from the 2nd, Retsu Unohana from the 4th, Byakuya Kuchiki from the 6th, Sajin Komamura from the 7th, Shunsui Kyōraku from the 8th, Kensei Muguruma from the 9th, Tōshirō Hitsugaya from the 10th, Yachiru Kusajishi from the 11th, Mayuri Kurotsuchi from the 12th, and Senji Hirako from the 13th.

There were two issues on the agenda, the first, as usual was Aizen. Even though he was defeated, he had still managed to escape.

"He could be in Hueco Mundo; he managed to mask his presence from us once before by hiding there" said Komamura.

"But the hougyoku was damaged, and wouldn't be any use to him if he tried to recreate his army" countered Senji.

"Maybe not" stated Mayuri.

"If Aizen could get his hands on enough power, he could repair the hougyoku using spirit energy from hollows."

"And where's he going to get this power? Out of thin air? There aren't enough hollows in Hueco Mundo to power such a feat" shot Yachiru.

Mayuri shot the girl an annoying glance, but conceded the point. Aizen would need massive amounts of energy in order to repair the hougyoku; however, there wasn't a direct source of power strong enough in Hueco Mundo to fuel the recreation.

The discussion soon dissolved into a massive argument, with each sides going back and forth on the issue. Where was Sosuke Aizen hiding? What was he planning? How would he repair the hougyoku? The war had made just about everyone bitter; there wasn't one person sitting at the table that didn't want Aizen dead.

"Silence!"

Yamamoto's voice booms over the others; silencing the other captains, giving the floor to Soifon, who proceeds to address the second issue of the captains meeting.

"I know that the war with Aizen has devoured the bulk of our attention; I'm sure all of us, myself included, will admit to neglecting our duties as soul reapers in the world of the living. Unseated officers, using immature zanpakuto, have been fulfilling those duties."

Soifon stops and takes out a large map, with an area outlined, and rolls it out across the table. She points to the area, as the other captains rise to get a better look.

"What do any of you know about this area? 980.797-744.141 is the LtLn Code"

None of the captains had ever heard of such a place; the Earth was huge, far too big for the Soul Society to cover extensively. Most of the soul reapers were assigned to places with high concentrations of hollows and pluses. Karakura Town had high concentrations of spirits, and even had several humans with large amounts of spirit energy. Karakura was classified as being a high risk area, with soul reaper safety levels being moderate; changing to dangerous once the arrancars began to appear.

"This area is in the same place as Ichigo's home town, isn't it?"

"What's so special about this place? It looks normal enough."

Shunsui looks at the map of the area; something just didn't seem right about it. The area had been marked as having a low concentration of pluses and hollows, but the safety risk for soul reapers was marked as dangerous.

"Well this doesn't make any sense, says here that this area has a low concentration of spirit energy, but it's classified as being too dangerous for low level soul reapers to enter."

"What? That's got to be some sort of error, that doesn't make any sense."

Mayuri stood, and took the map to study. He grinned, as he suddenly felt his curiosity levels begin to rise.

"Fascinating, does anyone know why this ranking would be given to such an area? It's several hundred miles from Karakura Town; and looking at all of the surrounding areas, most of them have moderately high levels of concentration, but then this area, this 980.797-744.141, has none."

"Who is the captain in charge of the area?" acquired Byakuya.

"That would be me" answers Soifon.

"There was a major war in the area one hundred years ago, things were so bad, that we had no choice but to go in and ferry all the souls to the afterlife; however, we found that many of the hollows and pluses we were sent to save, were mysteriously being killed."

"What do you mean being killed?"

"The humans were killing them, most likely. I have even heard eye witness reports from the members of the Stealth Force of humans being able to see them, with little spirit energy."

Byakuya looked aghast, while Mayuri looked disbelieving, but curious.

"Impossible, humans don't have that kind of power, not without possessing significant amounts of spirit energy."

"I'm curious, just what kind of humans are these? Are they like the bounts?"

Yamamoto's voice booms again, interrupting everyone. All eyes are focused on him as he speaks, "The area consists of a cluster of ninja villages, at least five large ones, and hundreds of smaller ones. These humans posses massive amounts of energy; even enough to negate the powers of soul reapers and hollows."

Several of the captains look shocked; it was extremely rare for humans to have the power to negate the powers of soul reapers, the bounts were a onetime exception, and they were immortal. These ninja couldn't possibly be as powerful as the bounts.

"If these ninja are so powerful, then why do have almost no information on them? Surely they weren't another product of Soul Society experimentation?" acquires Toshiro.

"The war with Aizen has blinded most of us to the situations on Earth, members of the Stealth Force have been monitoring the area for the last ten years; from what I understand, there's been another outbreak of war."

Soifon pulls out a stack of papers, and drops them on the table. She passes out several diagrams and charts to the other captains.

"These are from the Department of Research; the numbers indicate exactly how many hollows and plusses are being created per year, and there's enough information to cover the last decade. Note how, in the last five years, the number of hollows in the area has increased indefinitely, and dramatically."

"Incredible, the numbers have increased over 100 percent" states Retsu, her mouth agape.

In one year, the stealth force had recorded less than 50 hollows; exactly three years later, the number of hollows had surged to over 5500, with almost all of them disappearing. The next three years all had similar numbers; and each time the Stealth Force had reported many of the hollows vanishing immediately.

Conspiracy theories began to surface; the most prominent one was that Aizen was somehow involved; but this theory barely held water. What would Aizen have to possibly gain by meddling with the affairs of a war between ninja? Even the disappearance of all of those hollows could hardly be considered concrete evidence.

Shunsui spoke up, "Soifon, did the Stealth Force find out a motive behind this ninja war? Are they fighting over land? Is it political? Maybe even religious?"

Soifon shakes her head, and lowers it, solemnly sitting back down. "I sent two dozen of my best officers into that place, after ten years only three of them made it back to the Soul Society alive."

The other captains were awestruck; silence reigned over the hall for almost a full minute, until Soifon spoke again.

"I remember one of them telling me something about demon tailed beasts; but I have no idea what that means."

Tailed beasts? That struck a nerve with Yamamoto; in fact, it took him back to his days when he was still a young captain. The Ten Tailed Beast, a demon monstrosity so powerful, that it transcended both the world of the living, and the spirit realm. It was said that even the king of Hueco Mundo feared the demon. The Sage of the Six Paths; he was the strongest human he'd ever encountered, his power even surpassing his own. He sealed away the demon, and split its power into nine weaker demons. To his knowledge, they to, were also sealed away.

If the tailed beasts had fallen under human control, this war could prove too dangerous for them to get involved. He had good reason to believe that the tailed demons were even stronger than Aizen's Espada had been; though he'd never tell his fellow captains this, at least not until he could confirm their existence.

"We will pursue this endeavor for now, even if Aizen may or may not be involved; however, it is not our job to interfere with the lives of humans, so if the trail runs cold, we will not pursue any farther."

The other captains nod, except for Shunsui; he had known Yamamoto long enough to know when the old man was leaving out details.

"We need someone on the inside, someone that can gather information for us" said Kensei.

"I'll go" said Soifon, without hesitating. "A lieutenant or a captain would have to go; the area's too dangerous to send anyone weaker."

Her proposal only manages to spark another set of arguments, though she did have a point. If the finest ninja from the Stealth Force couldn't survive a simple recon mission, it meant that the captains weren't about to potentially risk life and limb for a stealth mission.

Yachiru, on the other hand, had been lost in thought. All this talk about ninjas, and ninja villages had got her thinking. About twenty years prior, she and Kenpachi had encountered an orphan in the poor districts of the West Rukon. Unlike them, the girl already had a name, Hiyori. Kenpachi had initially been drawn to her spirit energy; which was high for an infant. They took the girl with them, and brought her back to the Soul Society.

"I know someone you can take with you, Soifon."

Yachiru quickly fills the rest of the captains in on the story, and her mystery person, and why she'd be such a great choice for the mission. Soifon was skeptical; what Yachiru was suggesting was downright improbable.

The girl in question was the newly promoted lieutenant of the 5th division, whom had taken Momo Hinamori's place, Hiyori Hyuuga. If this Hyuuga girl really did have a sort of tie to this area; some family from her past life, maybe that could give them some leverage in finding some answers.

-------------------

Across the alleys and corridors of the Soul Society, the sound of clashing swords could be heard. 11th division lieutenant Ikkaku Madarame was enjoying one of his favorite pastimes, fighting; while sparring with the 5th division lieutenant, Hiyori Hyuuga.

"Heh, what's wrong Hyuuga? You've been slacking off since you made lieutenant!"

"Is that a fact? Consider yourself lucky that I was transferred to the 5th division, otherwise I'd have your job!"

Ikkaku cracks a maniacal grin, "You seem to be so sure of yourself don't you? Fine, lets up the ante."

Ikkaku's body begins to glow, releasing a massive amount of spirit energy.

"Extend, Hozukimaru!"

Ikkaku's katana transforms itself into a long staff with a blade at the tip. Hiyori smiles, and cocks her head to the side. She begins to laugh; it was if he was asking to have his ass kicked.

"You want me to release my shikai, huh? I didn't realize you were in such a hurry to lose, chrome dome."

Hiyori's body also begins to glow, as she releases an equal amount of spirit energy as her opponent.

"Reveal the all seeing eye, Senkennomei!"

Her katana transforms into a thin broadsword; the silver blade illuminates in the sunlight, appearing to produce its own light. The hilt was black, and lacked a cross guard; a yin yang symbol was imprinted near the bottom of the blade.

Watching the two is the 3rd seat of the 11th division, Yumichika Ayasegawa. Despite her tomboyish and rowdy personality, Hiyori was one of the few people that the narcissist had actually complemented their physical appearance. Hiyori was something else; she could fight all out with Ikkaku, she enjoyed writing poetry with him, and she could chat all day with Captain Yachiru. Despite being the 5th division lieutenant, Yumichika still views her as the little sister of the 11th division.

The battle between the two has picked up speed, and Ikkaku was quickly wishing he hadn't provoked the girl. Her shikai release was ridiculous; and her speed only made things worse. Her shikai's special ability created a field of perfect vision that extended a hundred feet in front and behind her, in every direction within a 360 degree sphere. And as he was experiencing this the hard way; the woman could see every attack he made within the sphere, well before they actually hit.

Flash step was useless, and his movements appeared sluggish; it was as if time itself slowed inside that sphere. She blocked every attack, and countered. She even countered his counters. Hozukimaru has the element of surprise, and was unpredictable to most opponents; however, Senkennomei has the perfect defense, and her melee style offense was quickly overpowering him.

Hiyori also uses a pair of hidden blades worn on her ankles as her trump card; her speed, combined with her prowess at hand to hand combat made reading her moves difficult. Her opponents normally never saw those coming, even if they prepared for them. And then, the fight was over; Hozukimaru suddenly shatters as Ikkaku falls to the ground.

Sure, he could have used his bankai if he had wanted to, but that would have given him an unfair advantage… especially when she wasn't willing to release hers.

Senkennomei returns to normal, as Hiyori descends to the ground. The rest of the 11th division has gathered to watch the fight, as well as several from the 5th division.

"Heh, not bad Hiyori. Ikkaku, what the hell was that? I think you're the one that's been slacking off since being promoted."

Yachiru appears behind the group, having returned from the captains meeting. The years have taken their toll; no longer was she the obnoxious little girl she had once been, she has transformed into a beautiful, and mature woman. Kenpachi had been killed by Aizen during the war, and it had been that grief that helped her grow up. As a tribute, Yachiru even sports the same custom made eye patch, and has bells braided into her long pink hair.

"Good afternoon, Lady Yachiru!"

The rest of the 11th division kneels before her, the same way they had always done with Zaraki. Ikkaku grumbles as he approaches her. At first he wasn't willing to accept her as captain, until it was revealed that her power had become every bit as monstrous as Kenpachi's had been; and he had firsthand knowledge, after she demonstrated that the eye patch she wore wasn't just for show.

"Captain, what about the meeting? About Aizen?"

She sighs, "There haven't been any new solid leads on his whereabouts; however, we may have found a possible lead."

"Where?"

"In the world of the living, inside an area of ninja nations; it sounds too farfetched, and honestly I think this is a wild goose chase, but who knows; maybe this path will lead us to Aizen."

Ikkaku scoffs, _'ninjas… great, just fucking fantastic.'_

"Lieutenant Hyuuga", Yachiru turns to address the girl before she leaves. Hiyori immediately snaps to attention; Yachiru considers her to be a little sister, only using formalities when she was deadly serious.

"You have been summoned by the Captain Commander for an urgent assignment."

"Yes, Lady Yachiru. Do you have any details?"

"Let's just say it concerns your former life, the name Hyuuga may prove to be useful in finding information."

"So this is a recon mission?"

"Sort of, you'll be working with Soifon?"

"Really? The commander of the Special Forces Unit herself, huh? This place must be pretty hardcore, if Yamamoto's sending her."

--------------

An hour later, Hiyori was standing in front of Captain Yamamoto, with Soifon at her side. Apparently it would only be the two of them on this mission; they were to gather information on the war between the ninja nations. While it was impossible to tell if Aizen had dirtied his hands with this war as well, Yamamoto was more eager to find out the conditions of the tailed beasts. If those demons were involved in the war, then Aizen could very well be involved; their power would act like a beacon for him.

"Because the region you'll be entering has been deemed dangerous to soul reapers, I am restricting the use of Gentei Reiin on your spirit energy; I am also granting authorized usage of your zanpakutos. However, under no circumstances are either of you allowed to attack humans; unless the dire situation arises, and you must defend yourselves.

Hiyori reveals that the Hyuuga's, as she knows them, are a clan that live in a village called Konohagakure. A dimensional portal was being created, that would drop the two soul reapers in front of the village. From there, they were track down these other Hyuuga, and subtract the necessary information from them.

"The portal will be ready tomorrow morning; go home, and get some sleep. I am expecting good results from the two of you. The two of you are dismissed."

* * *

Hiyori was the first to arrive at the gate the following morning; she didn't have to wait long, as Soifon suddenly appears before her in a whirl of smoke. She had been up since before dawn; making the final preparations for the mission.

"There have been a few changes" said Soifon, tossing Hiyori a glove with a skull on it.

"We'll be using gigai for this mission. I don't really like Kisuke Urahara; in fact, I despise the man. However, I must say his genius is rather impressive."

"Gigai? Won't that overcomplicate the mission?"

Hiyori shot the captain a questioning look. She had thought it easiest to use their spiritual bodies, to gather information. What she had heard about these ninja was that they could supposedly see them anyway, without using spirit energy.

"Our mission is to gather information; the gigai will help us blend in. These artificial bodies generate their own life energy; to the ninja we'll appear as nothing more than ordinary humans."

"But won't that put us in danger if we can't use our powers, Captain?"

"That's the genius behind these particular gigai; even though we won't be able to use our zapakuto's, we won't need them. The gigai will allow us to channel as much spirit energy as we need to defend ourselves, without causing permanent damage to the body. I believe Rukia Kuchiki experimented with an early prototype of this gigai years ago, after she lost her powers."

Hiyori's face sank as she frowns, _'kido is my worst area of combat; hell, I'm even worse than Renji.' _

"That glove I gave you; press the skull to your forehead, to separate yourself from the gigai. We won't have any soul candy with us; so only use the glove in an emergency situation."

"Yes, Captain."

The mission was secret, only the other captains were aware of it, and Soifon had absolute control over the mission. The portal opens up in front of them, as they stare into the swirling mass of spiritual energy. This was Hiyori's first trip to the living world, since dying nearly twenty years prior.

Soifon runs head first in the portal, with Hiyori close behind. The two soul reapers use flash step to close the gap between the two dimensions.

"Are you nervous?" asks Soifon.

"Why would I be nervous?"

"You're going to be reunited with your original family, from back when you were still alive. Something like this rarely ever happens; it's more common to find relatives after death, living in the Soul Society."

Hiyori had been doing allot of thinking on the subject; her family, the one she left behind when she died. Her real mother? Her real father? Did she have any siblings? She couldn't remember anything from her life at all. The only thing she remembered was her name, Hiyori; and she took the name Hyuuga, because that was name of the family whose crest had been on her clothes when Kenpachi had found her.

"I've always wondered what they were like, my real family; I wasn't born in the Soul Society, so I figured I must have died as an infant. Yachiru, Ikkaku, Yumichika, and the rest of the 11th division will always be my family; but I've always wondered what it would be like… to have a real mother and father, to have a brother or sister."

Soifon was silent; she had been born in the Soul Society; she had a mother and father to care for her, she had siblings (though all of them have since died) while growing up. It was something that she realized she'd taken for granted; especially when compared to someone who had no other family, than the soul reapers in their division.

She wasn't nervous; in fact, she was ecstatic. She had been looking forward to this mission all month; ever since she had first received the report from the Stealth Force. Her subordinates were no amateurs; they were the best of the best. Many of them she had trained personally; yet nearly all of them had been killed by humans that shouldn't have been able to even sense them.

'_This mission intrigues me to no end; I have to find out for myself, just how formidable these ninja really are.'_

"Lieutenant, we are coming to the edge of the barrier of the portal; once we cross through we'll be transferred into our gigai. We have to lay low, and then we'll proceed with the next phase of the mission; the infiltration."

Hiyori nods, as she follows her to the edge of the barrier. Soifon passes through to the other side; and without hesitation, she follows.


	3. The Infiltration

The Infiltration

The portal dumps them into a field; presumably on the outside of the village. Hiyori's gasps, the scenery was breathtaking; everything was so green, and she'd never seen so many trees before. They were much taller than the one's in the Soul Society.

"So this is the world of the living? Everything here; the plants, the trees, even the air, seems so much more lively."

"That's no surprise; plants that rely on oxygen, are more beautiful than the ones that rely on spirit particles; at least that's my opinion" said Soifon.

"Lieutenant, there is something that you need to be aware of. The concentration of spirit particles in the atmosphere, here in the world of the living, is much lower than in the Soul Society. You'll feel a difference when you use your powers."

"Can you elaborate?"

Soifon sighs, "Your spiritual energy won't decrease in any way; however, it will take more effort to perform certain techniques that would otherwise be easy to utilize; expect your stamina, and spirit energy reserves to deplete much faster here."

Hiyori frowns, '_Not a major setback I suppose; we won't be using our zanpakuto's, so I guess it doesn't matter.' _

"Understood, Captain."

"Good, now I'll fill you in on the next part of the plan."

It was far too risky to try and infiltrate the village posing as resident ninja; Soifon had no idea how a village like this would operate, so she opted for an undercover approach. The last thing she wanted was for their covers as soul reapers to be blown.

The mission could still be completed, but exposing their true identities could cause a panic amongst the superstitious ninja. Soifon had heard the folklore, and the legends surrounding soul reapers throughout the centuries; that they were the personification of Death, and the harvesters of souls. If word spread of a pair of grim reapers appearing in the village; she cringed at the thought of the havoc that might ensue.

The pair would be posing as merchants; they would enter the village, and track down this Hyuuga clan. If they couldn't get any useful information on the war from them, they'd merely ask them to direct them to someone that could.

Their disguises were already preset with their gigai, and Soifon had their forged identification papers ready; the plan was relatively foolproof, and she did not expect too many irregularities.

Checking, and double checking their supplies, the duo begins to trek towards the village.

-------------

After twenty minutes of walking, the gates of the Hidden Leaf Village came into view. The two soul reapers stood in awe of the sheer size of the village; they were honestly expecting to find a small, remote village with a couple hundred people. What they were looking at was something of a small metropolis.

"Good God, this place is enormous!"

Soifon was impressed; this village had to be as large as some of the more populated areas of the Rukon district. Many of the structures weren't unlike those found in the Seireitei; completely different from the run down, and shoddy looking buildings of the poor areas of Rukon.

The pair approaches the entrance, and is immediately stopped by two ninja's guarding the gate. The pair had on matching green vests, and both sported the same headbands with a leaf symbol imprinted on them.

Izumo Kamizuki stares at the two travelers, "I'll need to see some identification before I can let you in."

The other ninja, Kotetsu Hagane, added, "Security's gotten tighter lately, because of the war; you understand."

Soifon shoots Hiyori a look, before handing over their paperwork. Izumo stares at the identifications.

"Let's see, Shaolin Fon, from the Land of Grass, and"… He gasps lightly, gazing at Hiyori's face for the first time.

Kotetsu notices the same thing; the girl looks like an exact duplicate of Hinata Hyuuga, the heir to the prestigious Hyuuga clan; she had the same hair, the same body, even had the same trademark Hyuuga eyes. Neither of them said a word, but all took was a second of eye contact to tell they were both thinking the same thing.

"Hiyori Zaraki, also from the Land of Grass; tell me, what is your business here in Konoha?"

Hiyori smiles, "Were actually here to do a little business, and trade with the Hyuuga clan."

"Yes", said Soifon. "We don't know our way around the village, I don't suppose either of you know where we can find them?"

Kotetsu gave them the information without hesitation. He too had his suspicions, but he chose to keep his thoughts unreadable, lest these be expert enemy ninja.

Izumo remains stoic, appearing uninterested, "I see; well your identification papers seem to be in order, enjoy your stay in Konoha."

The women express their gratitude, and make their way into the village. The two guards waited until the pair had walked out of hearing range before sitting back down.

"You saw that didn't you Izumo? Tell me I'm not going crazy; that girl looked just like Hinata Hyuuga."

He nods, and scratches his chin, "They could be spies; but, the Five Great Lands are allies now, so they have no need to spy on one another."

"Many of the smaller lands are still neutral, so it could be the work of the Akatsuki."

Kotetsu was stumped, "The Hidden Rain is the only small village that's directly allied with us as I know it."

"How's that? We survived a direct attack from them once; I doubt they'd send another guy like Pain to attack us."

"Think about it, that girl looks exactly like Hinata, right? Perhaps there's a plan to sabotage Naruto somewhere; if it weren't for the war, the two of them would probably be dating each other."

Izumo frowns, even though Naruto and Hinata were pretty close, he doubted that the Akatsuki would use her to try and get to him.

"Their paperwork, and identification checks out; so if they were fake, they were damn good ones."

"Maybe we should let the ANBU handle this, if they really are here for trading and commerce, the Hyuuga clan should be able to validate their word. Maybe that girl's similar appearance to the heiress is just a coincidence."

Izumo nods, and summons an ANBU squad to their position at the main gate. He informs the captain of the details of the situation. The ANBU disappear, quickly heading towards the center of the village. The captain makes her way to the compound alone, and sends the others to track the two suspicious visitors.

* * *

Near the outskirts of the city lies the newly constructed Hyuuga manor. When Pain destroyed the village, the previous manor had been destroyed as well. The clan had opted to rebuild the manor; bigger, and even more splendid than it was before. It was one of the first buildings to be completed during the reconstruction of the village.

Hiashi Hyuuga sits at his desk, finishing up some paperwork. It has been a stressful last few months for the head of the clan. The destruction of the village could not have come at a worse time for him; the Hyuuga's are a clan of fierce loyalty, forever united with Konoha.

The widespread alliance that has united the five great nations against Madara has also been a blessing in disguise; now he was busy writing old comrades, and trying to renew bonds that had been broken. The letter he was writing was addressed to the Tsuchikage of Iwagakure.

Another blessing had been the vast improvements that he noticed within his eldest daughter Hinata; while the girl had been steadily improving ever since she had been promoted to chunin, it was her change in attitude that mostly caught his eye.

Since her battle with Pain, the girl had developed a newfound sense of self confidence, her formally shy, and withdrawn, demeanors have been reduced; and it was all thanks to one man, Naruto Uzumaki.

Hiashi knew how his daughter felt about the blond headed ninja, his own opinion of the boy had improved tremendously over the years; that was why he had no problem letting the boy personally train his daughter when she had asked.

However, Hinata's love for the boy would one day force him into a corner, and he knew it. When Naruto had not only defeated Pain, but managed to forge an alliance between Konoha and the Hidden Rain in the process through peace, Hiashi had been one of the first to regard the boy as a true hero. He now had no doubt in his mind that the boy was destined to become Hokage.

Naruto was the only possible suitor that was, perhaps, _too_ deserving of Hinata. He would never downgrade the position of Leader of the Hyuuga clan, but the position of Hokage was undoubtedly more important. If Naruto and Hinata were to wed; the boy would be able to change any aspect of the Hyuuga clan if he wanted to; and there wouldn't be anything she could do about it.

Hiashi sighs as he puts down his pen, his letter finished. He was about to summon a carrier hawk, when he notices a sudden change in energy; someone else had entered his office.

He turns to find an ANBU captain crouched down in front of the desk. Though most of the ANBU he did not know, he did recognize the woman as Yugao Uzuki.

'_She must have received a promotion.'_

She stands, "Lord Hyuuga, a pair of merchants from the Land of Grass have entered the village, they claim to have some business with the Hyuuga clan. Can you confirm this?"

Hiashi shakes his head; he wasn't expecting to do any kind of trade with any merchants at this time, and certainly not any from the Land of Grass. Yugao continues…

"One of girls bears a resemblance to Lady Hinata; she appears to have the byukugan as well, it was assumed that she was a member of your clan, perhaps removed. The name on the passport she presented is Hiyori Zaraki."

Hiashi's eyes widen, and he gasps slightly. However, he claims to have no knowledge of the girl, and sends the ANBU on her way.

"Thank you, Lord Hyuuga", Yugao disappears silently.

It was true, he had never heard of a Hiyori Zaraki before. And though she might bear a resemblance to Hinata, he doubted that she possessed the byukugan. The Hyuuga clan keeps close tabs on all exiled members and their families; he had never heard of a branch family called Zaraki before. Still, the information gave him a sense of déjà vu nonetheless.

It was one of the secrets of the Hyuuga clan; though it wouldn't endanger the clan if exposed, it had been in place for confidentiality. The main household and many of the branch families knew the secret; although few of the other clans in Konoha had known, and no one in the newer generation had any clue.

Hinata had another sister; a twin sister, named Hiyori. The girls weren't even a year old before Hiyori had caught a virus, which would lead to her unfortunate death. Hiashi and his wife mourned in private; Hiyori's name wasn't even added to the village census that year; her name can only be found within the private records of the Hyuuga family vault.

It frustrated him when Hinata seemingly refused the destiny that had been suddenly thrust upon her as future leader of the clan; she had been told growing up, that she had been born first, but that was a lie. In truth, Hiyori had been the first one born, and was, by birthright, the true leader of the clan. Her death prevented this, and thrust that destiny onto Hinata; but it was as if, by some force, she knew that the destiny wasn't rightfully hers, so she resisted.

It enraged Hiashi when he finally had to give up on Hinata, and focus his attention on Hanabi instead. He had lost not one, but two potential heirs at that point. He was grateful for Hinata's eventual turnaround, and acceptance of her destiny. It might have initially been her destiny to be a branch member, given her submissive nature; but fate had another plan for her. He himself had learned a similar lesson, when his twin brother had chosen death in order to protect the clan.

This was the past though, and he was quickly becoming an old man. The day that he did die; that would be the day that he looks forward to seeing all the loved ones he had lost in his lifetime, his wife, his brother, and his daughter.

----------------

Although Hiyori was busy taking in all the sights and scenery of the village, Soifon couldn't afford to.

"Quit looking at all the buildings and plants, and focus Hiyori."

She frowns, this was her first trip to the world of the living; she couldn't help but feel like a kid in a candy store.

"Relax Captain; has this place got you that uptight? Our identifications were flawless; we'll be done with the mission by the time they even suspect anything's wrong."

Soifon growls, _'Typical, just what I'd expect from a former 11__th__ Division member; all brawn and no brain.'_

"Shut up; don't be a moron. You're vastly underestimating the danger of the situation we're in."

Soifon knew something was wrong, even though their identifications were flawless, their disguises weren't. There were several scenarios that she hadn't covered; mostly because she couldn't. The most looming was the Hyuuga family; she had no idea what kind of influence and power they possessed, for all she knew they could be anything from commoners, to powerful nobles like the Kuchiki's.

She seriously hoped that it wasn't the latter; if they held allot of political power, and wealth in this village, they were fucked. The two guards at the gates would have easily seen through their getups.

'_I feel like we're being followed, but I'm having trouble sensing anything. These gigai have been modified to sense life energy; however, everything's too hazy for me to get a clear picture. I don't sense much spirit energy either. Damn, these ninja's aren't amateurs; that's for sure. These are experts; I doubt the Stealth Force could do a better job.'_

The two had been walking for about ten minutes; Soifon figured that they were halfway to their destination, as the Hyuuga clan was located near the outskirts of the large village. Ever since they had entered she had felt something wrong; that was where her instincts and training kicked in.

She too, had been well trained in the ninja arts; and stealth missions were her specialty. If anyone in the Seireitei could infiltrate a ninja village, it would be her.

'_Damn it; I should have requested Lady Yoruichi to accompany me instead.' _

Even though, at this time, she was Yoruichi's superior, she refused to treat her former sensei like a subordinate; even going as far as acting as if nothing had changed from 150 years prior, when the roles had been reversed.

"I think we're being followed, we have to be careful."

Hiyori's face dropped, "Being followed? Since when?"

"Since we entered the village; I'm not sure who they are, but whoever they are, they're experts, probably a stealth force of some kind."

Hiyori began to sweat, she hadn't noticed anything at all; she wasn't about to question the Captain either, if Soifon felt something was wrong, she wasn't about to doubt her.

"We need to split up" said Soifon, "There's a crowd of people coming up ahead; we need to disappear. Keep walking towards our destination, and I'll meet you there."

Hiyori kept walking forward into the sea of pedestrians, as Soifon backtracks, and begins walking in the opposite direction.

'_Let's see, this ought to draw them out.'_

Soifon executes a basic flash step, and disappears behind a building. She immediately senses the life energy in the area flare ever so slightly.

'_I sense two of them; so, they can track my flash step, impressive. However, I'm only keeping to the basics.' _

Soifon expends some of her spirit energy, and executes an even faster flash step; purposely getting herself cornered inside an ally.

A team of ANBU has been trailing the two women ever since they entered the village; they had reason to suspect them of being a possible threat and they weren't going to take any chances during wartime.

The team splits up after seeing the pair walk off into two directions. One of the women suddenly vanishes, but reappears a second later. The ANBU use some of their chakra to increase their speed, obtaining similar results.

It was odd; the woman could move at high speeds, yet she didn't appear to be expending any chakra at all. She seems to have noticed them; she definitely wasn't a civilian, as it was obvious that she had some training as a ninja.

Soifon smiles, she had their attention, "I don't know who you guys are, but I have no intention of being caught."

She disappears; utilizing an expert level flash step, she reappears on the roof of a building, and proceeds to jump from roof to roof. Much to her surprise, the two ANBU remain hot on her trail.

"I'm moving as fast as most seated officers, and they're still able to follow me? Impossible, humans can't move this fast!"

She notices the spikes in their life force have gone way off the charts; her gigai has been designed to sense the natural life energy of humans. As ninja, she expected them to be able to conceal their life energy; however, she was not prepared to have them raise that energy. What she was sensing was way beyond the normal limit of life energy she knew humans to have.

"Are these guys superhuman? Damn! What a horrible idea this was; we should have been better prepared before we came here!"

Soifon leads her pursuers into an open field and into a clearing on the outskirts of the village. She stops next to the tree line, and turns to face her opponents for the first time. There were two men, both wearing silver armor, with swords attached to their backs; both where wearing white masks, which reminded her of the vizards.

"Who are you guys?"

She didn't receive an answer, "I'm not a threat; I just need some answers."

"We'll let the Hokage decide that", one of them spoke.

"Is the Hokage the leader of this village? If so, let me speak to..."

A third voice cuts her off, "The Hokage is too busy to deal with the likes of you; you're dealing with me now."

------------------

A woman with purple hair rises from the ground; she too was wearing a white mask, but her getup was a tad bit different; she was wearing white armor instead of silver.

Soifon's eyes widen, _'I barely sensed her approach; she must be the squad captain; this ought to be interesting.'_

The two men back away, to give their leader room to fight, "I give you one chance; surrender peacefully, or I'll be forced to bring you down by force."

Soifon smiles, and draws her sword from her back. She would rather have her gigai destroyed, rather to risk being captured; she had her pride after all. That would destroy her reputation; and what would Lady Yoruichi think of her, if she got herself captured by a bunch of humans?

Though she wasn't able to use Suzumebachi, she doubted she was going to need her for this fight.

Yugao has seen all she wanted too; Izumo and Kotestu were right in their assumptions, these women weren't merchants. It was obvious that they were both highly skilled, and professionally trained, ninja. She'd let Ibiki work on her, then let Lady Tsunade decide what she wanted to do. She draws her own sword; readying herself for combat.

Soifon leads with a flash step, but her opponent intercepts. The two trade blows; fighting for dominance.

'_Her fighting style is very similar to the teachings of the Stealth Force Academy; but how is that possible?' _

Soifon finds that she cannot overpower her opponent; even worse her opponent possesses the ability to read her moves. She did not like this predicament at all. She didn't want to waste her spirit energy; due to the lack of spirit particles in the air, her stamina was greatly diminished.

'_It appears that I have no choice'_, she thought solemnly. She breaks away from her opponent and flash steps away. She uses the second of relief to raise her spirit energy to fifty percent. The sudden change in energy causes the dust to swirl around her violently, like a rising tornado.

Yugao stops as she feels the wind whip around her body, as some invisible force tears at her. The woman has apparently used some sort of jutsu; however, she didn't see her use any hand signs, and she couldn't sense the displacement of chakra in the air. Though her mask hid her facial expressions, she was quite surprised, and was feeling rather nervous.

'_What kind of jutsu is this? This energy; this isn't chakra at all, what kind of ninja is she!' _

'_I'm not sure how much spirit energy I can pour into this body. I'm not sure how durable Kisuke made this gigai to be, I might destroy it if I exert all of my power at once, or if I use shunko; and that's the last thing I want to do .I must defeat her quickly, and move on.'_

Soifon rushes in to attack once more; but to her shock, the girl was still able to keep up, despite the rapid attacks.

'_This is pathetic! A mere human cannot keep up with my speed; it's impossible! I am Soifon, the Captain of the 2__nd__ Division, and the Commander of the Special Forces, dammit!'_

She was going to use kido, and put an end to the fight; she wasn't going to kill her opponent, just incapacitate her.

"Bakudo, Number 9 Geki!"

Soifon skips the incantation, and holds out her finger; Yugao suddenly finds herself paralyzed, as a red light surrounds her. She watches in horror, as the powerful invader suddenly disappears.

'_What the hell? I can't move; what is this? A genjutsu? I have to counter, or else I'm dead!' _

Soifon moves swiftly, and connects with a devastating blow that would surely end the fight; she watches the body of her opponent fall to the ground, only to see it burst into a severed log a second later.

"What!" Soifon yells in pure shock. Her opponent has disappeared.

"Leaf Style: Crescent Moon Dance!"

Soifon looks up to find not one, but four clones rushing at her. She smirks; sensing the life energy inside the clone in front of her. She slashes her opponent across the chest, drawing blood; she expects the rest of the clones to disappear, having wounded the real one. A fraction of a second later, she realizes that her own body has been cut.

She flash steps away, only to watch in horror as the bleeding clone disperses into a cloud of smoke; the girl rematerializes without a scratch on her.

'_What the hell? I could have sworn that I cut her! Clones can't bleed like that, it's impossible. Damn, I've seriously underestimated her. She's even stronger than the top seats in my division; I doubt even Omaeda could defeat her.' _

She smiles, "What kind of technique was that? I had no idea clones could bleed."

Yugao hesitates, the woman must be some kind of sensor if she could sense chakra; however, she must not be very skilled, if she couldn't tell the difference between a clone and a shadow clone.

"It's called shadow clone; I pour my life energy into an ordinary clone, and they appear to be actual humans to the senses."

Soifon frowns as she processes this information; then she remembers something that Yamamoto had said during the last Captains meeting, _"__**These humans posses massive amounts of energy; even enough to negate the powers of soul reapers and hollows."**_

'_I see; these human's, these ninja…are able to manipulate their life energy in the same manner as we soul reapers manipulate our spirit energy. I realize now why my subordinates were killed. This is astonishing.' _

She smiles; she was intrigued, very intrigued. She wanted to learn more about these strange abilities, so unique, yet so similar to her own; but the mission had to come first.

Soifon drops down, ready for another round. This time she was ready; she was confident she could win now. It was a shame she would never know the name of such a worthy opponent.

With her sword held high, she rushes in to engage the girl once more; suddenly she feels a presence of another person, a hand reaches out and grabs her arm. Soifon's gasps, her body has gone numb with fear. She looks up to see a man with silver hair; he was wearing the same headband as the two guards at the gate, only his was angled to cover one of his eyes.

She breaks his grip, and rapidly moves away; her body was shaking with adrenaline, _'I-I didn't even sense him approach, has he been here the entire time? No! I would have sensed him in this gigai. What kind of a human being is he?'_

The man had a book in his hand, which he quickly discards as he turns to the girl in the mask, "That will be all Captain, I'll take over from here."

Soifon watches the girl bow, and heard her reply "I understand." She disappears within the blink of eye, followed by the rest of her squad.

Soifon frowns, _'Judging by the way that girl took orders, he must be her superior, but she's a captain; does that mean he's even stronger? Damn, I don't need this; I'm just wasting time. I need to find Hiyori, and we have to complete this mission without any human causalities.'_


	4. The Gigai are Destroyed

I'd like to thank everyone who has read and reviewed the story so far

apimpnamedKyuubi - I sent you a message earlier; no Kakashi is not the Hokage in this story, Tsunade is

lightningblade49 - I'm sure you'll enjoy this chapter

Sasuke hater - It depends on what you mean by bashing, if you mean make Sasuke look like an asshole, that's how he's presented in the manga right now. However, if you mean make Sasuke look weak, that's not going to happen.

I do not own Bleach or Naruto; this story is fanmade and non-profit

**The Gigai are Destroyed **

Separated from the captain, Hiyori Hyuuga is not happy. Soifon's nervousness has rubbed off on her, making her skin break out in a cold sweat. Even though she was surrounded by pedestrians amidst a busy street, she had tuned out all noise; allowing a deafening silence to overtake her senses.

'_Think of the mission, the mission. Don't lose your cool.' _

Hiyori had to force herself to think clearly; her fear prompting her to run, and her instincts were prompting her to prepare to fight. And then she felt it, the unmistakable feeling of rising spirit energy. Captain Soifon was engaged in battle, and from what she could tell her opponent was strong.

Even though stealth wasn't her forte, with the ability to sense the natural life force of humans implanted into her gigai, Hiyori could tell right away that she was being followed; though it was impossible to say by whom, or for what reason.

'_Alright you jerks, let's see you keep up with a soul reaper's flash step.'_

She quickly ducks behind a building, and disappears. Surely no human would be able to track her moving at such high speeds. However, to her horror, not only had her pursuers followed her movements, but they were still hot on her trail.

Hiyori was dumbfounded; it was if these humans had reached into a well of energy that, theoretically, did not exist. Hiyori realizes the mistake that she's made; a fundamental error that could not be avoided.

'_Dammit! I had no idea that humans could have so much power; normal humans can't even see flash step; but these guys used it to pinpoint my position. I can't outrun them… I wonder if Captain Soifon made the same mistake?'_

Hiyori races to the edge of a clearing, and the tree line leading out of the village. Hiyori turns, and stands rigid; a second later, three blurs cross her line of sight. The ANBU blacks ops have been tracking her the entire time; what was originally supposed to be a recon mission, was quickly turning hostile.

Hiyori could see three men standing in front of her; they were dressed in grey combat armor, and were wearing intricate white animal masks. She figures them to be some special patrol unit; she smirks, and sarcastically asks them what she's done wrong.

"There better be a good reason for stalking me, what do you people want?"

The man wearing an eagle mask on her far left speaks, "We have reason to believe you to be a possible spy. Surrender now or we'll be forced to take decisive action."

Hiyori frowns, there wasn't any way she was going to stand down; it was clear that these guys wanted to fight, and there wasn't any way to avoid it. She had promised the Captain Commander that she would not spill any human blood, unless threatened; and she was feeling pretty threatened right now.

She smiles and draws her sword, "I can tell you now that I am no spy, I am just a common traveler; however, if you threaten my rights, I'll have no choice but to defend myself. If you want to take me, you can try."

She quickly unleashes her spirit energy, fighting at maximum power without her zanpakuto. The ANBU suddenly find themselves amidst a violent windstorm that has seemingly enveloped the Hinata Hyuuga look-alike. It was unlike anything they had ever experienced; the energy didn't feel like chakra, but had the same characteristics.

Had the men been spirits, they would have been able to see the twisting energy pouring off the girl, rising through the air like giant tornado. Like many of the members, and former members, of Squad 11, Hiyori has tremendous levels of spirit energy, even without the use of a zanpakuto.

Before she can attack, her gigai senses yet another presence rapidly approaching her position. Yugao has left her previous battle to rejoin her squad, in case the other intruder proves to be hostile; sure enough her fears have been confirmed.

Hiyori strikes, catching one of the ANBU off guard; her movements being almost too fast to detect. She plows through two of the ANBU before crossing swords with the third. She kicks the man away, as the other two recover, ready to stand their ground against her.

The girls speed and ferocity is shocking to Yugao; she seems unfazed by her arrival, as if the prospect of facing four ANBU was no big deal. The girl's power was amazing; Yugao wasn't even sure if she was really a Hyuuga. Her eyes were callous, almost bloodthirsty, as if the girl had faced death countless numbers of times.

'_She's unlike any Hyuuga I've ever seen; she's the exact opposite of Lady Hinata.' _

Hiyori begins to laugh, "You corner me like a common animal and challenge me to a fight to the death; yet, none of you has the nerve to attack me. How pathetic…"

Even though her mask hid her emotions, Yugao was extremely nervous; this girl could easily kill all of them if they attacked recklessly, fortunately Yugao did have a plan.

"Use shadow clones to attack!"

If this girl was anything like her comrade, then the shadow clone jutsu should confuse her long enough for her and team to trap her within a sealing jutsu. The ANBU quickly make the hand signs, and with a puff of smoke suddenly double their numbers.

Hiyori stares, what had been a four on one, was now an eight on one; her gigai confirms all the humans standing in front of her have the same amount of life energy.

'_This makes no sense, humans cannot clone themselves… well, it doesn't matter; I'll cut them all down! I don't care if there's eight or a thousand of them!'_

The ANBU leave the fight to the clones, concealing their presence. Hiyori slashes one of the clones across the chest, drawing blood. Shockingly, the clone disappears in a cloud of smoke, catching Hiyori off guard; she feels the blade of another clone slashing her shoulder a second later.

Yugao and her team use the precious time to prepare their secret containment jutsu; it requires quite a bit of chakra to perform, and they only had one shot to get things right. The rate the girl was defeating the clones was alarming; it was putting a strain on their chakra to keep making clones, while focusing on the containment technique at the same time.

Yugao was beginning to worry that their fight would soon draw the attention of the resident jonin in the area with the amount of power the battle was emitting so close to the village. They had to end the fight now…

Hiyori didn't understand, her gigai was telling her that these 'people' in front of her were real, when they clearly weren't. Every time she managed to deal a blow, said person would simply turn into a puff of smoke. It was infuriating. To make matters worse, more clones appeared in their place; she's lost count of how many of the things have been defeated. She can also feel a drag on her spirit energy; fighting at maximum power without her zanpakuto, with little spirit particles in the air, was starting to take a toll.

Yugao smiles, the jutsu was ready… now came the hard part, setting things in place. The technique requires four people, as well as one person to aid the summoning. Yugao creates another shadow clone, and gives the signal for her team to move in.

Hiyori sees yet another clone of the purple haired woman jump down in front of her, she sees the woman quickly pull out a large scroll, unroll it, and slam her hands to the ground on top of it, as she shouts "Summoning Jutsu: Four Corners Containment Barrier!"

Hiyori quickly slashes the woman, who turns out to be yet another fake. Suddenly a bright light surrounds her, as she finds herself trapped within a sphere of light covered by a square dome. Outside the dome, she can see four more people.

Hiyori can feel the sphere of light beginning to constrict around her, pulling her body towards the center of the scroll. Hiyori unleashes more of her spirit energy, futilely trying to break the technique with sheer force.

'_This damned technique is sucking away all my spirit energy! If only I could use Sekennomei, we could blow this barrier away.' _

Even with the sphere draining her powers, the ANBU were still struggling to confine the girl. The containment barrier they were using was special, it was designed to seal away the powers of a jinjuriki; once started even Naruto could not break out of the technique.

'_She's trying to overload the barrier, even with the sealing sphere draining all of her chakra… but it won't work.' _

Hiyori can feel her energy being drained from her at a rapid rate, even though her reserves of spirit energy were deep, she wasn't nearly as powerful as Yachiru or Captain Kuchiki; she wasn't powerful enough, not here, in the world of the living. She was about to resign herself to her awaiting fate, when she remembers something; reaching into her pocket, she grasps the soul candy.

'_I can't! I promised Captain Soifon that I wouldn't use this. If I enter my gigai again, I won't be able to get out.' _

The soul candy would animate her body with a one- time- use artificial soul; she was given a glove that would allow her to reenter her gigai, but without any means of getting out again. Hiyori closes her eyes, and quickly pops the soul candy into her mouth. A sense of liberation overcomes her, as her soul is wretched from her body, revealing her soul reaper form.

Hiyori jumps into the air, watching solemnly as her now still gigai is pulled into the center of the scroll. Their objective complete, she watches the purple haired woman secure the scroll, as the four ANBU quickly leave the scene.

From the sky, Hiyori opts to pursue, quickly flash stepping to catch up. The retreating ANBU were none the wiser; as a soul reaper, Hiyori Hyuuga was invisible to all.

Soifon stares at her adversary with intrigue; she could barely even sense his approach onto the battlefield. Soul reapers in general were not adapted for recon missions; stealth wasn't something that could be learned inside the Academy. Only Squad 2, the Patrol Corps, and the Special Forces Unit excelled in the art of stealth; and there was no one in Soul Society better than Soifon. For someone to catch her by surprise was quite rare indeed.

She blinks, her eyes taking in the man before her, "That girl was a Captain wasn't she? So what does that make you?"

The man laughs lightly, "I guess that makes me her mentor, I was an ANBU Captain myself back in the day."

Soifon stares blankly, the man didn't appear to be physically any older than she was; perhaps he was lying to intimidate her, but his subtle display in speed suggested that he was stronger than he was leading on… she had to be ready for anything.

"My name is Shaolin Fon, I am a merchant from the Land of Grass; I have business with the Hyuuga clan. I would appreciate if you'd let me pass without trouble."

The man held his ground, "I'm sorry, but I can't do that. The Hyuuga are a prestigious clan, practically royalty; their secrets are too important to this village to let anyone suspicious get near them. Though I'm not sure why the Grass Land would choose to send such inexperienced assassins, especially during wartime."

Soifon's eye begins to twitch; the last sentence striking a nerve with her. Only someone with a death wish would dare say something like that to her; though she supposed she did deserve it in this instance. She knew practically nothing about this village, its people, or the powers they used. She was basing the success on the mission on hope and luck; even the best ninja's were destined to fail with those odds.

"I'm not an assassin, nor did I come here to commit espionage or treachery."

"I doubt you're a simple merchant either; your skills are too advanced to be considered an ordinary civilian. You've been trained in the ninja arts, I presume?"

"Yes."

"So what are you, exactly?"

Despite her emotionless appearance, Soifon inwardly chuckles; if the man only knew…"I'm sorry, you wouldn't believe me if I told you."

The man sighs, "I came here to give you the option of surrendering peacefully; if you are in fact whom I think you aren't, I'm sure Lady Tsunade would be happy to grant you a reprieve."

Soifon grins, "Allow me to ask for your name; a warrior of your caliber must have a reputation that proceeds him."

The man laughs, "I'm flattered, but unfortunately you're right; it's not everyday that I meet a ninja claiming residence from the Fire Country that hasn't heard of me. My name is Kakashi Hatake."

"Well Kakashi Hatake, what happens if I refuse your offer?"

The man was silent for a second, before lifting the corner of his headband, revealing the weirdest looking eye that Soifon has ever seen; it was blood red and had an odd pupil pattern in the shape of a spiral.

"If you refuse, I'll take you by force."

Soifon crotches and prepares to defend herself, "I offer you to try."

She disappears, sword drawn and defenses on edge; she moves quickly, but Kakashi moves faster intercepting her with a kunai knife. To the untrained eye, the two would appear to be blurs, dancing back and forth in some battle dance of melancholy swiftness.

Soifon gracefully dodges a set of shuriken, and throws one of her own kunai knives; Kakashi matches her trajectory, and knocks her weapon out of the air with another kunai.

Soifon throws two more kunai, and tries to use her speed to catch the man off guard; however, every time she seemingly finds an opening against the man he blocks her attacks effortlessly.

As the two break apart after a stalemate, Kakashi quickly forms hands signs, much to Soifon's interest, "Fire Release: Great Fireball!"

To her shock, the man shoots a large fireball at her at point blank range. Soifon manages to dodge, but the attack leaves her singed. With barely any time to counterattack, Kakashi engages her in hand to hand combat. His attacks were too quick, and too strong for her to dodge efficiently. She retreats, flash stepping deeper into the forest away from the village.

'_He's good, even better than the girl. I have to use more power, I'm no match for him like this.' _

With his Sharingan eye activated, Kakashi can see her every movement. The technique she used was intriguing, it seemed almost like a body flicker but done more efficiently; in fact, her technique eerily reminded him of his late sensei's Flying Thunder God Technique done at a slower pace.

Kakashi shoots another Giant Fireball at the woman, the attack incinerating everything in its path. Soifon ducks, landing in a clearing beside a large pond; Kakashi lands on the water, and begins forming hand signs at a rapid rate.

Soifon stares with widened eyes, his hands moving so quickly she couldn't even see them, and the fact he could stand on the water without falling in was unnerving. Kakashi finishes his technique, "Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"

Soifon watches in awe, as two large dragon heads rise out of pond and rush towards her. With no room to dodge, she takes the attack head on, the force of the water slamming her backwards, sweeping her away in a raging torrent of water. She watches in horror, as her opponent crotches down and forms lightning into his hand.

'_Fire, then water, and now lightning! This guy can manipulate the very elements of nature itself!' _

The man's power was amazing to Soifon. Some soul reapers could control the elements with their zanpakuto's, but rarely could they control more than one, let alone three simultaneously. All she could do at this point was duck and dodge.

Kakashi moves swiftly on top of the water, his Chidori turning up a wake in its path. The woman was elusive; barely managing to avoid electrocution.

Soifon decides to fight fire with fire, or in this case electricity, she raises her finger for a kido attack, "Hado, Number 4 Byakurai!"

The electric attack moves swiftly, catching Kakashi by surprise. Soifon smiles, at last she had managed a direct hit on the 'super human.' Her glee turns to surprise, and frustration as the man's body explodes into a gush of water. Kakashi, was equally surprised.

'_What kind of jutsu was that? I didn't even see her use a hand sign.' _

Soifon uses the brief moment of silence to power up a stronger attack, the man was far too quick and would likely be able to dodge a binding spell; she would have to use a destruction spell with an incantation to defeat him.

She begins to recite loud and quickly, "Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws."

Kakashi listens, the woman's behavior was odd; however, with his Sharingan he can see the displacement of energy around the woman beginning to shift; she was building up energy for a finishing blow.

Kakashi creates a shadow clone, and makes his presence known; Soifon finishes her incantation, and fires her attack.

"Hado, Number 33 Sokatsui!"

A massive wave of pure blue energy flies directly at Kakashi, but he manages to counter at the last second.

"Earth Release: Earth Style Wall!"

A giant wall of earth explodes out of the ground and intercepts the blast; her attack strikes the wall, causing a large explosion. Soifon grits her teeth, and shields herself from the blast.

'_He can use earth element too?' _

She pears through the damage, and smirks; there stands her opponent struggling to stand. Her gigai confirms that the man has taken a direct hit.

Soifon smirks, "My attack too strong for your barrier huh?"

Her victory party is short lived, as the man evaporates into a puff of smoke. Soifon curses in frustration, "Damn you Kisuke! I'll kill you once I'm done here!"

The clones these people used were seriously beginning to piss her off; her gigai couldn't even tell her if she was fighting the real thing or a fake.

'_Where did that bastard go now?'_

She was in full combat mode now; it was taking everything she knew just to keep up with this man. She looks right, left, in the trees, in the water, she looks down to the ground…

"Oh hell no!"

She flash steps away, just as Kakashi's hand breaks through the surface. He gives chase, and in a brief moment, Soifon notices something disturbing. She catches a glimpse of his weird red eye, and sees the spiral shaped pupil spinning like a pinwheel.

'_I wonder, is that eye the secret to his power?' _

She stops, and engages the man in a stare down, taking a defenseless pose.

"Tell me something Kakashi Hatake, is that eye of yours the source of your power?"

Kakashi did a double take, claiming to be from Fire Country and not knowing his name was one thing, but not knowing the Sharingan was on a totally different level of ignorance. He doubted there was a ninja village in existence that didn't know about the Sharingan eye and its power.

'_This woman is intriguing; she uses jutsu without hand signs, or displacing any chakra; however, she lacks common knowledge that even Academy students possess. She's a skilled fighter nonetheless.' _

"The Sharingan? No, it's not."

Soifon mulls over his answer, it was hard to imagine a single human possessing control over so many elements; and his speed… he was even faster than the girl she had fought before. There was no way that an ordinary human could possibly keep up with her speed… then it hit her, the answer suddenly making her skin crawl.

'_I see, that eye of his allows him to see high speed movements. I guess I have no choice then…' _

"That eye of yours is really something incredible. It allows you to see high speed movements, so I guess I have no choice but to use my full power against you."

Kakashi's eyes widen, _'Full power?' _

The Sharingan gave him more than just the ability to see high speed movements, but if the woman was planning to use raw power to overwhelm him, he had to be ready for anything.

Soifon was out of options, Shunko was the only thing left. This man was truly extraordinary, and she was feeling a sense of overwhelming bliss from this fight. It was rare that she ever got to use her ultimate technique in battle; it was a shame, if this Kakashi Hatake was a soul reaper, he would make one hell of a sparring partner.

She stares at the ground, slowly building her energy. She reaches out with her right arm with her palm outstretched, "Shunko…"

Energy explodes around her, enveloping Kakashi in a whirlwind of chaos; the shoulders and upper back tear off of her outfit, as large rocks were lifted into the air. With the Sharingan, he can see the fine details of the wind swirling around her. It was as if the woman had suddenly summoned all eight of the Inner Gates at once; however, this energy definitely wasn't chakra.

'_What kind of power is this? This can't be chakra; I can't sense anything from it.' _

It had been since the Winter War twenty years prior that Soifon had last used Shunko; she was out of practice. She shudders, as she involuntary releases a crushing wave of spirit pressure from the atmosphere. Amazingly enough Kakashi remains on his feet, unscathed.

Soifon laughs, _'This man has no spirit energy, and yet I'm forced to use Shunko to beat him. I should be ashamed, but I'm not… the other Captains wouldn't even have a clue how to combat these ninja and their crazy techniques.' _

Kakashi on the other hand was sweating bullets; whatever technique the woman used, has brought her power to staggering levels he hasn't felt since his battle with Pain.

'_It's too risky to fight her head on, since I don't know what this technique does; I have to finish her quickly, before this fight gets way out of hand.'_

Kakashi closes his eyes, as Soifon smirks; was he giving up? The power of Shunko was so great, that even humans with no spirit energy at all could easily feel its affects. Soifon frowns, she poises herself to attack when her gigai detects something unsettling… the man's energy was rising.

'_His energy… it's growing at a rapid pace; he's focusing his power for one final attack… surely he isn't thinking about attacking me?' _

Soifons eyes widen; blue energy begins to envelop the man, and unlike spirit energy, she can not only feel this power, but she can see it as well. The energy explodes, swirling around the man violently, giving off an affect almost as dramatic as her Shunko… and then, suddenly, the energy disappears.

"I'm sorry Shaolin Fon, but I have deemed you too big of a threat to this village to be left alive; I have no choice but to kill you."

Kakashi opens his left eye; Soifon gasps, his eye has changed shape, going from a pinwheel shape, to a lotus shape. A vortex suddenly materializes in front of her, catching her off guard. To her horror, she can feel the vortex beginning to suck her body into the center.

'_It's that eye! It's that goddamn eye of his! He's created a black hole; it's sucking away all my spirit energy!' _

In a battle of wills, Soifon tries to use Shunko to advert the vortex. That eye of his was the cause of this hellacious technique; however, she can tell that it was taking a tremendous amount of energy to maintain the force of the technique.

'_I can't maintain my Shunko much longer; but it looks like neither can he. I won't give up; I can't allow myself to be defeated by a human!' _

Soifon manages to draw the point of the vortex away from her chest, and to her arm. She screams as the vortex constricts, and tears off her arm at the shoulder; she falls to the ground in a cold sweat. She looks up and gasps, blood was pouring from the man's eye.

Using Kamui was already taxing enough; but the woman was able to fight off the affects with that technique of hers. Kakashi clutches his eye; he was bleeding, and his vision was beginning to blur. Exhausted, he collapses. His charka was at its limit; she has the advantage now.

Soifon struggles to her feet; her body was shaking with fear and adrenaline. She was grateful she wasn't using Suzumebachi; the arm that was torn off of her gigai was the one she normally used her zanpakuto with.

'_This is insane, whatever that technique was, it was powerful enough to kill a soul reaper Captain! This man… he's so powerful and he isn't even the village leader.' _

She begins to walk slowly towards the injured man; reaching into her jacket, she draws her last kunai knife.

"Tell me Kakashi Hatake, are there others in this village as strong as you?"

Kakashi manages a weak grin beneath his face mask, "As strong as me? No… there are stronger."

Soifon's eyes widen, and she takes a step back. She registers the presence of another person a split second before she's hit with a punch strong enough to send her sprawling a hundreds yards, slamming her body into a giant boulder. She opens her eyes, and looks weakly at her new adversary. It was just some kid with blond hair, wearing an orange and black jumpsuit.

While their battle did not cause much of a disturbance once they moved away from village, one person has tracked their every move. When Kakashi disappeared, Naruto entered Sage Mode, and followed him. Feeling his sensei's chakra levels drop dangerously low, the boy has taken decisive action.

"Kakashi- sensei, are you alright?"

Kakashi's voice was weak, "Naruto, we have reason to believe that woman to be a spy, trying to sabotage the Hyuuga clan; she's too dangerous to be left alive."

Naruto growls, while he and Hinata weren't exactly dating, he has developed strong feelings for the girl since their battle against Pain; anyone trying to hurt her or her family would immediately answer to him. Silently the boy forms two shadow clones…

"I see Kakashi- sensei", the boy answers solemnly.

Soifon watches, awestruck, as the boy uses the clones to form a swirling mass of energy in the shape of a giant shuriken above his head. The energy the weapon was emitting was so overwhelming, she was being suffocated.

'_What in God's name… If that thing hits me, I'll be killed!' _

While the technique wasn't nearly as powerful as her own bankai; in her weakened state, it was more than enough to kill her if she took a direct hit.

Soifon was silent, _'I have no choice now.' _

She reaches for her soul candy at the same time the boy throws his weapon; she pops it in her mouth, and liberates herself just moments before the blast hits. She's thrown backwards, flailing around struggling to find her bearings. She comes to an abrupt halt, landing awkwardly on her back; she opens her eyes, and gasps. The explosion has destroyed everything around her, the trees, rocks, the pond… everything is gone; nothing but a large crater remains.

Soifon wails in frustration, and punches the ground…

Her gigai has been ripped to shreds in the explosion, and she can see bits and pieces of burnt flesh and clothing strewn around her. She struggles to her feet, and checks over her body; her right arm was still intact. Oddly enough, she had lost her left arm in a fight against one of Aizen's Espada twenty years earlier.

She watches the boy lift the man onto his shoulder, and disappear. Her first instinct was to follow them, until she realizes that she already discovered vital information.

"That girl called the village leader the Hokage, and that man repeated the name 'Lady Tsunade' several times; she must be the village leader."

Her mission was to gain information from the Hyuuga clan, but Kakashi Hatake claimed them to be a powerful and influential clan; getting near them might be too dangerous now. The Hokage would be able to answer all of their questions.

Soifon takes to the air, and flash steps away to find Hiyori…


	5. Tsunade's Forbidden Jutsu

**Tsunade's Forbidden Jutsu **

Flash stepping over the skies of the Hidden Leaf Village, Soifon has switched her target from the Hyuuga Clan, to the Hokage named Tsunade. However, her main purgative was finding the Lieutenant.

She was half expecting her to continue the original mission and make her way to the Hyuuga Compound; however, when she finally did arrive at the compound, she couldn't find a single trace of the girl.

It was getting late, and the sun was quickly setting; the Hyuuga Compound was enormous, apparently Kakashi Hatake wasn't kidding when he had said the Hyuuga's were practically royalty.

Soifon sighs, without her gigai it was going to be extremely difficult to talk with the Hokage considering hardly anyone could even sense her presence. She ascends, rising higher in to the air; the only option left was to use the Soul Tracking Technique.

'_If there are any humans in this village with any significant amounts of spirit energy; I'll find them.' _

Standing rigid, she performs the technique branching out to cover the entire village; a few seconds of searching produces only one result.

'_It's coming from the tower in the center of the village; this power is strong, I wonder why I didn't sense it before.' _

The technique also reveals something else; Hiyori's location. The girl was no longer in her gigai, and that made her angry.

Hiyori has followed the group of ANBU to a warehouse on the outskirts of the village. She was about to enter the facility, but a sudden burst of spirit pressure stops her cold. It was the Captain, and she did not seem happy.

She turns, coming face to face with her superior; the two soul reapers remain in the air, suspended high above the moonlit sky.

"Why are you out of your gigai, Lieutenant?"

Soifon was obviously in a foul mood. Hiyori begins to fidget, as she explains the altercation between her and the ANBU; Soifon's eye begins to twitch.

"So where is the gigai now?"

She points, "In that warehouse."

Soifon berates the girl for being so reckless when she's cut off, "Wait, Captain, why are you out of your gigai?"

Hiyori gasps, "Don't tell me you were defeated too, Captain?"

Soifon turns red with embarrassment, as Hiyori explodes in raucous laughter, "I don't believe it! The great Captain Soifon defeated by a bunch of humans; Yachiru's gonna flip!"

She's cut off by another wave of crushing spirit pressure. Red energy was pouring off of the Captains body at an intense rate. Soifon's eyes were full of pure rage…

"You better watch your mouth, Lieutenant; unless you want me to show you a perfect assassination!"

Hiyori throws up her hands in defense and quickly backs away, "Hey it was a joke! Can't you take a joke?"

"Does it look like I'm joking to you?"

Hiyori bites her tongue, as Soifon explains the situation. She plans to visit the source of the spirit energy herself, while Hiyori was instructed to retrieve her giagi and meet back up with her.

"Wait, what happened to your gigai Captain?"

Soifon cocks her head to the side and scratches at her ear, "It was destroyed in an explosion…"

Hiyori stifles another laugh, as Soifon's shoots her a murderous glare…

"Okay, okay; I understand…"

Soifon shakes her head in disgust, and flash steps towards the tower…

It did not take long for the news of the infiltration to travel throughout the village; one of the intruders was killed in action, another was captured by the ANBU. The Hyuuga Clan was believed to have been their primary target; as a result, the entire compound was being heavily guarded by the ANBU.

Kakashi had been injured, and was currently recovering at the hospital. Tsunade's first prerogative was to find out the motive behind the attack, so she sent word to the Land of Grass demanding answers. She was about to put the entire village on lockdown, but Naruto manages to change her mind.

It has been less than a month since she regained consciousness from a coma that should have taken her life. The ninja world was quickly going to hell in a hand basket, with Madara Uchiha out for blood. Pain was proof that even a village as strong as the Hidden Leaf was no match for the power of Akatsuki.

It has been a long and stressful day for Tsunade; this attack was the last thing she needed; even though the five great villages were united, there were plenty of smaller villages that were either neutral or sympathetic towards Madara and his cause.

She had felt a peculiar energy in the air several times throughout the day. It was an eerie feeling that sent a chill down her spine; she was grateful to have Shizune with her, or else she probably would have been too afraid to stay in her office overnight.

It wasn't a ninja attack she feared, it was something that… she could not explain. There were things in her life that she did not like to talk about; the deaths of her little brother and her lover were very high on that list. Another thing was the Second Great Ninja War, and the horrors that she saw on the battlefield. There was something else though, and Shizune was the only living person that actually knew about it; and the two of them rarely spoke about it.

For as long as she could remember, before she even started her training as a ninja, she could always see spirits. As a child, she would see the spirits of dead ninja walking around the village. When she got older, the spirits would appear on the battlefield; and she could do nothing for them but watch.

Following the deaths of her brother and lover, she began to ignore the feelings she had; treating the spirits no differently from the living as she cut herself off from society. Over time, the power began to fade; by the time she was named Hokage, she could no longer see the dead.

She rarely spoke of this ability to anyone; largely due to the fear of coming across as a complete lunatic, but she could see other things besides dead spirits. She saw these things that she could only describe as monsters; as a child she watched these monsters devour the souls of the dead right in front of her. As an adult, she watched in horror as the monsters attacked living humans. She herself had been attacked, but in every instance she managed to fight the monsters off.

She often saw strange groups of people show up whenever the monsters were around; they would kill the creatures, then leave. They usually wore black robes, and fought with swords like samurai. She quickly deduced that none of her comrades could see them; just her. And the strange people rarely spoke to her; in fact, most of them made an effort to avoid her. It wasn't until later in life that she discovered just who these people were…

She had always been a folklore buff; and according to ancient Japanese legend, the agents of death would take the form of a samurai in black robes, as opposed to the western view of a hooded figure wielding a scythe. It was this belief coupled with her notorious bad luck that eventually led Tsunade to believe that these people she had been watching her entire life were actually grim reapers. When she developed her fear of blood, she developed a fear of death as well. It was this fear that led her to ignore the spirits, and the monsters, as she ran from her problems and her sorrows. When she was named Hokage, she overcame her fear of death, and that's when the power seemingly left her for good.

However, being comatose had changed her. She didn't realize it before, but that power has somehow returned. It wasn't too different from chakra, and it produced similar characteristics. The monsters and death gods seemed to draw on this spiritual power much like ninja's did through nature.

But the energy she felt today was different, it was much stronger. Through the years of being able to see them made her somewhat aware of the death gods and their abilities. One characteristic of their power was the ability to exert their energy into some form of atmospheric pressure, like having a weight dropped on your head. On three separate occasions the pressure was enough to make her lose her breath; one time she actually collapsed in the middle of her office. She was grateful to have been alone, or else Shizune would have had a panic attack.

Tsunade really didn't know what to think at this point; her imagination was fueling the possibility of an attack on the village by a bunch of monsters that only she could see. She could barely focus on her paperwork, though it was the only thing currently putting her mind at ease.

Tsunade sat at her desk, trying to focus on the task at hand. With her was her loyal assistant Shizune, and Shikaku Nara, the father of Shikamaru and the Jonin Commander for the Leaf Village. Joining them was Temari, the sister of the Kazekage and the Jonin Commander for the Sand Village. Temari has traveled to the Leaf Village per Gaara's request.

The four of them have spent the day trying to come up with a new battle strategy combining the military might of both villages against Madara Uchiha's forces. While the earlier attacks on the village have been unsettling, it was the Hokage's constant nervousness that currently had everyone on edge. Shizune noticed her master's fidgety antics to be uncharacteristic.

"Lady Tsunade, is there something that's bothering you? You've been really uptight since the attacks this afternoon."

Tsunade shakes her head, Shikaku and Temari held similar looks of worry on their faces, "It's nothing; none of you need to worry about me; I'm fine."

'_It was inevitable for them to start worrying.' _

The lights in the office suddenly begin to flicker on and off; then the power dies leaving the four ninja in a room full of darkness.

Shikaku frowns, "This is odd; the lookouts weren't calling for bad weather tonight, and maintenance has not reported any faulty wiring recently."

The lights return to normal, and Tsunade sees a large black butterfly flying through the room. She watches, totally transfixed on the insect, ignoring everything else.

"A butterfly?"

Shizune waves her hand in front of her face, "Lady Tsunade?"

"It's a butterfly, a large black one…"

Shizune looks around the room; she didn't see any butterflies, looking over at Shikaku and Temari, it was clear that they couldn't either. Shizune shoots Shikaku a pleading look, who merely shrugs an _'I don't know'._ Temari watches Tsunade's eyes, as they drift back and forth; she was obviously watching something that they could not see.

Tsunade gasps, watching as a figure suddenly drifts right through the wall. It was a woman; she was short, wore a white jacket, with a sword strapped horizontally to her back.

Soifon walks to the center of the room; she looks around trying to find the owner of the spirit energy she had felt earlier. Her eyes drift around the room, passing a young blond girl, a man with a scarred face, an older blond woman with pigtails, and a woman with short black hair. Her eyes quickly shoot back to the blond woman with the pigtails, realizing that this woman has the power to see her.

Soifon grins, _'So it's you; I've found you.'_

Tsunade's watches the woman with wide eyes; she was trembling, _'Is she? Yes, she has to be! She's a death god…' _

Shizune was beginning to panic, "Lady Tsunade! What's going on?"

Tsunade quickly holds out her hand to silence her, "Shut up Shizune! Shikaku, Temari, what do you know about the Spiritualist Medium Jutsu?"

Shikaku gasps, "But Lady Hokage, that jutsu is forbidden."

"I know it is! I'm the one who created it, and I'm also the one who convinced the Third to outlaw it."

Temari scratches her head, "What technique are we talking about?"

"The Spiritualist Medium Jutsu; it's a genjutsu that allows the user to reanimate the souls of the dead inside of a person's mind," said Shizune, turning towards her master.

"But, Lady Tsuande…"

"Enough! For one night only, I will allow you to use this technique. A variation of this technique exists; if you cast the genjutsu on yourself, it will allow you to see the souls of the dead."

Tsunade runs through the hand signs, performing the technique on herself; the others quickly replicate the jutsu. None of them had a clue what was happening, but they weren't about to defy the Hokage.

Soifon frowns, _'A technique that will allow them to see the souls of the dead? Impossible; the only one who should be able to see me is the blond woman with the pigtails!' _

"Genjutsu: Spiritualist Medium!"

A light suddenly blinds the ninja; when they recover, they can see a strange woman standing in front of them just as clearly as they can see each other.

"An intruder!"

Shikaku was tense, "How did she get in here? Lady Tsunade…"

Tsuande holds up her hands, "Quiet! Quiet all of you!"

Soifon was befuddled, "Incredible… all of you can actually see me?"

"Why wouldn't we be able to see you?"

Temari begins to fire off questions "Who are you? A spy? An assassin?"

Shizune suddenly begins to panic, pointing her finger at the woman, "She's a ghost! We couldn't even see her before we used this jutsu!"

Soifon begins to chuckle in amusement, "Sorry, I'm no ghost."

"Then what are you, exactly?"

"Cool it Temari; you want to know what she is? I'll tell you," Tsunade heart was racing. "She's... she's a death god."

The other ninja's were quiet, desperately trying to grasp what the Hokage had just said. It was one of those things that was so elementary, but at the same time impossible to fathom. Temari's eyes were wide, her body frozen in fear.

Shikaku was the first to find his voice, "Did you say d-death…god?"

"Yes, a death god, otherwise known a grim reaper."

Shizune suddenly bursts into tears, collapsing to her knees, wailing in hysteria, "I'm too young to die; I'm thirty years old and I'm still a virgin!"

Soifon begins to laugh, casting a dark cloud on an already bad situation. The ninja's instincts were telling them run, to fight, to get away; but they found it hard to do anything when they were literally staring Death in the face.

"Calm down; I did not come here to harm any of you." Her reassurance did little to calm the ninja's nerves.

She turns staring at Tsunade, "And the correct term is soul reaper, human. You've seen us before haven't you, my subordinates no doubt."

Tsuande's eyes were wide, "S-subordinates?"

"Yes, all of these ninja villages and the countries that surround them are under my jurisdiction."

Shikaku was trembling, "What do you mean 'your jurisdiction'?"

Soifon smirks, "Simple, when all of you die; it'll be the members of my division that will escort your souls to the next world… or to the underworld if need be."

Temari was feeling faint, she quickly retires to one of the chairs next to Tsunade's desk; Shizune follows, still failing to grasp the concept of the afterlife the soul reaper was presenting them.

Tsunade holds her ground, "Then what is someone like you doing here?"

Soifon folds her arms, "I need information."

"What kind of information do you need?"

"That depends, are you the Hokage?"

Shizune gasps, "Lady Tsuande…"

Tsunade silences the girl, "Yes I am the Hokage; I am the leader of this village. My name is Tsunade."

Soifon grins, "My name is Soifon; I am the Captain of the 2nd Division of the Soul Reaper Court Guard Squads."

"I apologize for any inconveniences that may have happened earlier. The mission was supposed to be recon; none of you were supposed to find out that we were here."

Shikaku gasps, "Then the attacks earlier were your doing?"

"We were ambushed; we had no choice but to defend ourselves. The man I fought was quite impressive; I believe he said his name was Kakashi Hatake."

Tsuande sighs, _'I knew it; Kakashi's lucky to be alive.'_

Shizune jumps up, "Wait, there are other grim reapers in the village?"

"Yes, one other, a young girl with ties to this village; that is why we chose to come here. I need information regarding this war that has been brewing for the past decade. The information may prove to be invaluable to my colleges and I."

A death god with ties to the Leaf Village was a hard concept to fathom; however, with one of life's questions about what happens to people when they die answered, the soul reapers words were easier to accept. The other question was even harder to answer; why would the soul reapers want to involve themselves in their war?

Before the ninja's could ask the soul reaper anymore questions, a sudden burst of atmospheric pressure suddenly fills the office. Tsunade winces, the force of the pressure driving the breath out of her. Shizune stands and rushes over to her master's side.

"What's wrong Lady Tsunade?"

Soifon was intrigued, "So that technique allows you to see us, and yet you remain unfazed by our powers; how interesting."

A youthful voice suddenly fills the office, "Hey, Captain; I completed my mission. Did you get our information?"

The ninja's begin looking around for the source of the voice, the jutsu allowing their senses access to sensations that would otherwise be cut off.

They jump as a figure walks right through the wall without even opening the door. It was a girl, most likely the one the soul reaper named Soifon had spoken of. The girl was carrying another person on her shoulder.

Soifons eyes the girl, "Bought time Lieutenant."

"Hey, you don't know what I had to go through to get this do you?"

Hiyori begins to retell the story; the ANBU had placed her gigai in a strange cell filled with all sorts of strange seals. The place was crawling with ninja; she had to cut the bars with her zanpaktuo without any of them noticing…she failed…

"I knocked out about a dozen of them, and then I kicked a hole through a wall and came here."

She drops her gigai, the body landing with a thud against the wooden floor. The ninja's gasp as they finally get a good look at the girls face. Tsunade was particularly stunned; she had heard the reports of a Hinata look-alike roaming the village, but she never expected… this…

The other ninja's were just as shocked, the girl was Hinata Hyuuga, only dressed in a different outfit with a sword connected at her hips.

Hiyori looks around the room, it was quite obvious that she and the captain were not the only one's there; however, it quickly dawned on her that every single person was looking at her with shocked expressions.

Hiyori points, "Uh, Captain, I think these people can see us."

Soifon groans, and buries her head into her hands, "Of course they can see us you dimwitted girl."

"But how? The only one of them with spirit energy is that old woman over there."

Tsunade's eye begins to twitch, and she fought the urge to scream the girl out of her office. Shizune was horrified; the last thing she wanted to see was Lady Tsunade getting into a brawl with a death god.

Soifon turns to Tsuande, "I apologize for this one; she's all brawn and no brain."

Hiyori crosses her arms, "You're one to talk; Lady Yachiru told me how you were so gung ho about coming here, that you were the stealthiest person in Soul Society, and that you could infiltrate some pathetic ninja village with your eyes closed. Now how exactly did that go again? Wasn't exactly a success now was it?"

Soifon growls, "How dare you, you insufferable brat! Didn't Yachiru teach you any manners?"

Hiyori shrugs, "Not really."

Tsunade smiles, the girl may have looked like Hinata, but the two were polar opposites. This girl was loud and rambunctious; Hinata was quiet and introverted. She reminded her allot of Naruto.

Tsunade begins to explain the situation with the war, with Shikaku filling in a few of the gaps. She quickly goes through the Akatsuki's plans for domination, the tailed beasts, the jinjuriki, the alliance of the ninja nations, Madara Uchiha's plan for world domination involving the Moon's Eye Plan. She also gives Soifon information regarding Sasuke Uchiha's deflection, but leaves out the S Class secret involving the Uchiha Clan Massacre.

Soifon stands silently throughout the entire speech, never asking any questions or clarifications. When done, Tsunade asks why a soul reaper would be interested in such information. Soifon explains that a part of a soul reapers duty is to maintain the balance of souls between the world of the living, and the afterlife. Lately that balance has become unstable…

"I can't give you anymore information, but there's an extremely dangerous man that the Soul Society has been chasing for nearly a century and a half now. We believe that he may be in cahoots with your enemies."

The ninja's were silent; if what Soifon was saying was true, then not only was the entire world at stake, but the afterlife as well. The very fabric of existence since time began was in danger of unraveling. This information suddenly made these seemingly invincible death gods seem allot less frightening, and allot more… human…

With her mission complete, Soifon decides to return to the Soul Society; she beckons Hiyori to follow.

Tsunade raises her hand, and points towards Hiyori "Wait, Captain Soifon, I have a request; I want to know the name of your comrade."

Hiyori turns, "Me? My name is Hiyori Hyuuga; I'm the Lieutenant of the 5th Division. "

The other ninja gasp; Tsunade smiles "Tell me, Lieutenant Hiyori, what do you know about the Hyuuga clan?"

Hiyori scratches at her chin, "Not much of anything, I guess."

Hiyori quickly retells her story, much to the interest of the ninja's; she was orphaned, she had no parents, no family, she was found in poor districts of West Rukon by the 11th Division, and was later raised by Lady Yachiru following the death of Kenpachi Zaraki.

"I though you said you weren't born in the Soul Society?"

"I wasn't Captain, but I don't remember my real parents, so I always say I was orphaned."

Shizune turns to Tsunade, then back to Hiyori, "I'm sorry, but I can't believe your story; it's too incredible. I have personally studied the village census for the past fifty years, and I do not recall ever seeing a Hiyori Hyuuga ever recorded."

Shikaku has been thinking, "Hold on Shizune."

"I've known Hiashi since we were children; just because her name doesn't appear in the village census, doesn't mean that the Hyuuga's wouldn't have recorded it inside their family vault."

Tsunade nods, and snaps her fingers, an ANBU black op rises from the floor. "Summon Hiashi Hyuuga here at once."

The ANBU nods and quickly disappears…

Soifon chuckles, "Do you have those papers I asked you to get before we left Lieutenant?"

Hiyori reaches into her robe, and pulls out a document, and hands it to Soifon. Soul Reapers weren't allowed in the world of the living for recreation. Any soul reaper that wanted personal time off had to get it approved by the Captain Commander, with another division to cover their shifts.

Soifon nods; the document was signed by both the Captain Commander, and Captain Yachiru.

"Well it looks like everything's in order" she turns, "Hokage Tsunade; it looks like the Lieutenant will be staying here for a few days, to get herself reacquainted with her family. Can you accommodate her?"

Tsuande nods, as Shizune turns a rough shade of green.

It was now in the early hours of the morning; Tsunade dismisses the other ninja for a much needed nights sleep. She even kicks Shizune out, despite the woman's heavy protests. The main side effect of her jutsu was that it requires a steady stream of chakra in order to function, so after an hour of use, the others ninja's were starting to feel fatigued.

She wasn't worried about them talking; it's not like the others would ever believe them; not without proof, which they couldn't provide because her jutsu was forbidden. The Hokage didn't feel like sleeping; what she really wanted was to try and pump some additional information out of the girl, whether it be for the sake of the village, or for her own selfish curiosity.

Hiyori transfers her soul back into her gigai, but not before giving Tsunade her skull glove, with instructions to use it only during an emergency. She sits in a chair beside the Hokage's desk, waiting for the representative of the Hyuuga Clan. The silence was eerie, perhaps the woman was afraid of her; but she doubted it. Eventually she breaks the silence with a question of her own.

"So, how long have you been able to see soul reapers?"

Tsunade takes a sip of her freshly brewed tea, "Since I was a little girl. I guess that isn't a normal thing?"

"Most of humanity is completely unaware of our presence. But, there have been others. It's not uncommon to find a few substitute soul reapers living amongst humans."

"Do you see hollows as well?"

"Hollows?"

Hiyori frowns, trying to find a delicate way to describe a hollow, "hollows are human souls that have transformed themselves in malevolent monsters."

Tsunade's eyes widen, "Yes… I have… seen them."

"Most souls don't choose to become hollows, only those that linger too long in this world, attached to a possession, or the memory of a loved one."

Tsunade was silent, she found herself fighting the urge to cry. Slowly she lowers her chin onto her closed palms.

"About thirty years ago, I watched my lover transform into one of those things. He attacked me, before the soul reapers killed him."

Hiyori was sympathetic, "Hollows that are slain by a soul reapers blade are purified. Their souls cross over and are reincarnated in the afterlife. When you die, you might be lucky enough to see him again."

While the girl's words were comforting, they did little to ease the pain Tsunade had felt for so many years; she sighs, "Well, knowing my luck, that won't ever happen."

Hiyori folds her arms, "I never considering myself to be a lucky person; I've been killing hollows ever since I was a small child, the only family I ever knew were the soul reapers in my division. I never knew my real parents; didn't even know they existed, but this is my chance to see them again. I am now a true believer in luck. I figure if I can get that lucky, I'd be willing to bet that you'll see your lover again."

Tsunade smiles; "Thank you..."

Hiyori quickly changes the subject, "So who is this Hiashi Hyuuga?"

"He's the current head of the Hyuuga Clan."

"Really? Captain Soifon told me that the Hyuuga's were practically royalty, is that true?"

Tsunade begins to ponder, "Yes, I'd say so. The Hyuuga are an influential clan, and one of the oldest in the village. But, I guess what makes them truly powerful is their blood line technique."

"Blood line technique?"

"Yes, it's a technique that is only found in members of the Hyuuga Clan. It's called the Byakugan."

"Byakugan? I've never heard of it."

Tsunade takes a good look at the girl's eyes for the first time. Her eyes were pupiless, but they lacked the glossiness of a normal Hyuuga Clan member; like a diamond covered in dirt.

"I'll have Hiashi show you when he gets here."

The pair waits for almost another half an hour; before the sound of a fist knocking on the door could finally be heard. Hiashi Hyuuga was less than trilled about having to leave his house in the middle of the night. Wasn't the Hyuuga Clan supposed to be on lock down? It didn't make much sense for the Hokage to call the Head of the Clan down to her office in the middle of the night for a meeting. He knocks briskly on the door, and steps inside.

"Lady Tsunade, with all due respect, I think it's inappropriate to have a meeting at this time of night."

He looks up, and stops dead in his tracks. There, sitting in one of the chairs beside the Hokage's desk, was his daughter Hinata.

"H- Hinata, what are you doing here?"

Hiyori looks at the man, and then back at Tsunade. Hiashi didn't understand, wasn't Hinata asleep in her room? Why would she be here?

"Lady Tsunade? What is my daughter doing here!"

Hiyori does a double take, _'Daughter? What the hell?'_

Tsunade gestures at Hiashi to have a seat, he declines and chooses to stand. Hiyori stands, "I'm sorry, you must have me confused with someone else; my name is Hiyori Hyuuga."

Hiashi was shocked, _'D-did I hear that right? I must be losing my mind.'_

"Lady Hokage, surely this must be some kind of joke."

Tsunade frowns, "I can assure you Hiashi, this isn't a joke; I don't joke about things like this."

"But, this girl can't be Hiyori; it's impossible! Lady Hokage she's been dead for 17 years now!"

Tsunade sighs; they were going to have to do this the hard way after all. She stands, and walks over to the man.

"Hiashi, are you familiar with the Spiritualist Medium Jutsu?"

Hiashi nods, though he had no idea why the Hokage was asking him about a forbidden jutsu.

"Good, I want you to perform it… on yourself… right now."

Hiashi was befuddled, but he wasn't about to defy the Hokage; not this late at night, his energy was low as it was. He performs the hand signs, much to Huyori's interest.

"Genjutsu: Spiritualist Medium…"

A blinding light fills his vision, but when he recovers nothing changes. Hiashi was starting to lose his patience.

"What is this? I don't have time for this nonsense right now, and quite frankly I feel disrespected having a family tragedy hung over my head!"

Tsunade says nothing; following Hiyori's instructions, she uses the glove to forcefully free her soul reaper form from the gigai. Hiashi's mouth opens in shock, as Hiyori's body falls to the ground.

He was speechless, _'What is she?'_

Hiyori looks at the man, "We thought it might help if you saw my real form."

Hiashi was trembling, "W-What in the world are you?"

Tsunade moves, and puts her hand on the man's shoulder, "She's a soul reaper, Hiashi."

His eyes widen, "A s-soul reaper? Y-you don't mean…"

Tsuande's eyes tell the whole story; Hiashi realizes he's standing next to a grim reaper claiming to be his long dead daughter. Frightened the Hyuuga Head takes a step backwards, only to be quickly held in place by the Hokage.

"Let me go Lady Tsunade! She's a demon! There's no way she could possibly be Hiyori!"

Hiyori reaches into her robes, and pulls out a lavender colored shawl, "I feared this might happen, so I brought this just in case. This is what I was wearing, the day I was discovered by the 11th Division."

She unravels the shawl; there stitched in the center was the Hyuuga Family Crest. Hiashi's eyes were immediately the size of saucers; he recognizes it as the blanket he and his wife had wrapped their daughter in, right before they buried her. He reaches out and grabs the shawl in a death grip.

There were tears in his eyes, "This is a dream isn't it?"

Tsunade smiles, she was fighting to hold back tears of her own, "No Hiashi, it's not."

Hiyori smiles, "I'm sorry to have caused you any inconvenience; my name really is Hiyori Hyuuga, and I'm a soul reaper. I'm here because I finally have the chance to meet the family that I never had growing up."

Hiashi reaches out to stroke her cheek; she has the same trademark eyes of the Hyuuga Clan, except hers were dull; the same dull color the eyes became when a Hyuuga clan member died. He could tell her byakugan had been sealed long ago.

Suddenly, he reaches out and embraces the girl in a strong hug; he couldn't hold back the tears any longer.

"I don't know how this is possible, but it really is you Hiyori… my daughter…"

Hiyori was smiling ear to ear, "It's great to finally meet you… father…"


	6. Akatsuki Reborn

**Akatsuki Reborn **

Hiashi Hyuuga was still in a state of shock; his long dead daughter was standing right in front of him. She wasn't a ghost; he could feel the touch of her skin just as clearly as his own; even her breath held warmth.

"You died so long ago, and yet, you feel so much alive"

Hiashi suddenly jerks his hand away from her, "Did someone bring you back to life? Lady Hokage…"

Hiyori holds out her hand, "Technically I'm still dead, but I'm not a ghost either."

"Yes, Lady Hokage said you're a soul reaper."

He looks in Tsunade's direction for confirmation; she nods slowly…

"But, how is that possible? Soul reapers are responsible for ferrying souls to the afterlife; how did you become one?"

Hiyori smiles, "If you'd like father, I'll tell you my story."

Hiashi nods, this was literally a dream come true for him. He had always dreamt of meeting his daughter someday in the afterlife, and what they would talk about. Now that the opportunity was unexpectedly here, he wasn't about to let his anxiety get the better of him.

He takes a seat beside Hiyori, as she starts her story from the beginning…

"I don't remember much of anything from when I was alive, except the soul reapers that sent my soul to the afterlife. When I arrived in the afterlife, I had nothing on me except for this…"

Hiyori holds up the shawl in front of her…

"I was alone… I had no parents, no siblings, no one to care for me."

Hiyori quickly explains the concept of the afterlife, the Soul Society, and the different districts. Tsunade and Hiashi remain silent, not saying anything…

"The district I was sent to was quite poor, and violence was everywhere. I was rescued from the streets by an elderly man who took me in, and gave me shelter."

She explains the concepts of eating and drinking, spirit energy, and the cycle of reincarnation…

"The old man passed away my second year in the afterlife, and I found myself back on the streets. Life… was tough… in order to survive, I joined a gang of street children; having spirit energy, I was constantly hungry so I had to steal to feed myself."

Hiashi was appalled, though he kept his emotions in check and remained silent. The very thought of his child, as a baby, having to fend for herself, reducing herself to a petty criminal made him angry. Even though he himself was a practitioner of tough love; he always gave his children a fighting chance, even if they didn't deserve it…

"I had been in the afterlife only 3 years before I saw my first murder; the adults around us were cruel and heartless, they would even kill children if they found enough reason too. Many of children I knew had either run away, or were killed, and I was left alone once more."

Tsunade found the girl's story hard to stomach; if the girl had been sent to Heaven when she died, she didn't even want to imagine what Hell must be like…

"It was the end of that year that I encountered them…"

Hiyori smiles, remembering fondly her first meeting with Kenpachi and Yachiru; Yachiru had still been a little kid, and Kenpachi the captain of the 11th Division. Kenpachi had been intrigued when she was able to stand next to him, unaffected by his spiritual pressure...

"I was rescued by two powerful soul reapers; The Captain of the 11th Division Kenpachi Zarachi and his Lieutenant, Yachiru Kusajishi. They took me back to the Soul Society, where I was entered into the Soul Reaper Academy by the end of the year."

Hiyori explains that it was at the Academy that she had been trained to become a soul reaper…

"I was the youngest student in the Academy in over a hundred years; they called me a child prodigy. I was stronger than the other students, despite having average grades; I guess my power just came naturally to me. I graduated two years early, and was placed in the Soul Reaper Reserve Unit of the 11th Division. A year later I was promoted to the 7th seat of the division where I remained until just recently when I was transferred, and promoted to Lieutenant of the 5th Division."

Hiashi smiles, _'A child prodigy…'_

He can't help but feel an overwhelming sense of pride. Hiyori was supposed to be the true heir to the Hyuuga clan, but her death had passed that destiny onto Hinata instead. He couldn't help but wonder how different things might have been had she lived…

'_Even in death, you were spectacular.'_

Even Tsunade was thoroughly impressed; other than Naruto, she had never encountered a child that had developed such amazing powers and authority over their peers in a short amount of time…

Hiashi speaks for the first time, "I'm curious, surely you have some other sort of surrogate family that raised you?"

Hiyori frowns, "Unfortunately no; I never knew what it was like to have a mother or father. The members of my division were always the ones who looked after me, and kept me out of trouble. Captain Kenpachi was killed during the Soul Reaper Wars, and Yachiru was promoted in his place. I've always considered her to be my older sister, and as far as I'm concerned, we're family."

Hiashi folds his arms solemnly, "It must have been difficult for you growing up without any parents."

Tsunade speaks, "One thing I am curious about, how did you come to find out about your Hyuuga heritage?"

Hiyori smiles, "One of my good friends is the Lieutenant of the 12th Division, which forms the center of the Department of Research and Development. Their computers hold information on just about everything in the world of the living."

Tsunade suddenly feels ill, remembering her vast gambling debts, _'E-everything? I regret ever asking…'_

Hiashi stands, the girl's story was incredible; and while he had no problem buying into it because he was her father, he was beginning to fear what the rest of the clan was going to do if he brought the girl back to the compound. He needed to talk to the Hokage about what to do with the girl.

"Hiyori, I hate to ask, but I need to talk with the Hokage in private…"

Hiyori holds up her hand, "I understand, this must be hard for you. It's not everyday that you have a dead child show up on your doorstep."

She turns to leave, "I'm going to set up a perimeter around the village."

"What kind of perimeter?" asks Tsunade

"A hollow protection perimeter, a soul reaper can't be too careful; even on vacation."

She turns, disappearing through the ceiling, Tsunade shudders, _'Ghost or not, I don't think I'm going to get used to that anytime soon.' _

Hiashi turns to face the Hokage, she sighs, already knowing what he was going to say. She holds up her hand to stop him, "I know what you're going to say, Hiashi, you're worried about what the other members of the clan might do if they found out about her."

Hiashi nods, "I can't leave her here; I'll have to take her back with me at some point."

"We could lie; say she's a member of one of your branch families…"

"That will never work," he interrupts, "The clan elders would get suspicious, most of them know the secret of Hiyori's lineage; many of them were present when my wife and I announced her birth."

Tsunade frowns, "This is going to be harder than I thought. There has to be a way to convince the Hyuuga Clan Elders to not only buy into our story, but to keep Hiyori's identity a secret from the rest of the village."

The two remain silent, until the answer hits them like an unpleasant slap to the face. Hiashi groans, he knew what had to be done…

Tsunade sighs, "Regretfully, I think it may be the only method that will cause us the least amount of grief in the long run."

Their plan was to reveal Hiyori's identity as a soul reaper to the clan elders, then force the clan to go along with whatever story they made up for her.

"We need to think of a back-story for her, something we can tell the rest of the village."

While it worked in their favor that many of the ninja in Hinata's generation had no clue that she had a twin sister; however, a few of the ninja from Hiashi's generation were aware of this fact. Their back-story had to erase any ties this Hiyori might have to the one that died 17 years ago.

Hiashi sighs, the plan he had in mind would work, but it was sure to bring shame to the clan. They did not have allot of options at this point…

"I have a plan for a back-story, Lady Hogake…"

"…If anyone is to ask, she is Lady Hinata's older stepsister… the product of a failed relationship before I met my wife."

Tsunade was stunned, "The Clan Elders will never agree to submit to that; you'll risk shaming your entire clan."

"If we reveal Lady Hiyori's true identity to them, they won't have a choice; they'll be backed into a corner. Let them be angry if they wish… I can handle the Clan Elders, it's better than her presence potentially causing a panic amongst the villagers."

Tsunade nods, "I'll have to accompany you; and since most of the members of your clan are aware of Hiyori's past, they shouldn't be hard to convince."

With that issue out of the way, the pair tackles one more problem… Hiyori's body. Tsunade's Jutsu would allow the girl to be seen as a soul reaper, but the technique was too taxing to be used for long periods of time.

Tsuande points to the lifeless body still sitting on the floor, "I was told it was called a gigai; an artificial body of some sorts."

Hiashi examines the body with his byakugan, it looks exactly like Hiyori, but it lacks any chakra. It had the same characteristics as a human corpse.

"I was given a special glove that will allow me to wretch Hiyori's soul from her body… apparently I'm the only one who can use it."

Hiashi nods, as Hiyori suddenly appears through the ceiling, the sudden change in pressure steals Tsunade's breath away. She shoots a glare at the girl…

Hiyori returns to her gigai, as her father explains the situation to her…

"I'm going to take you home to the compound in the morning, you'll finally be reunited with the family you never had."

Hiyori was ecstatic; she couldn't wait…

* * *

Dawn came surprisingly quickly that morning. Hiashi has stayed the night in the Hokage tower, part of it was spent getting to know his estranged daughter, another part was spent with Lady Tsunade trying to come up with some sort of plan to conceal Hiyori's identity, the last was spent worrying about how his clan was going to react to the news.

'_They'll react the same way I did, they'll panic until the Hokage and I can convince them that everything's fine. The Hyuuga's are a sensible clan, and the elders are aware of Hiyori and her passing… they should be able to accept her the way I did.' _

An ANBU member was called to summon the Hyuuga Council together before Hiashi and the Hokage were to arrive. With Hiyori back in her gigai, and Tsunade leaving her office in Shizune's care, the trio departs for the Hyuuga Compound.

Despite being it being mid morning on a weekend; the streets were still busy, as civilians and ninja's scrambled back and forth. Hiyori was amazed at everything she saw, taking in the village in its entire spender.

"I still can't get over how cool this place is, I would have done some sight seeing earlier, but we were attacked before I could do anything."

Hiashi smiles, "Maybe later after we clear up this ordeal, I'll take you to see the monuments."

"I'd like that; though I am aware of what's going on, I managed to catch the last part of your conversation with the Hokage."

Hiashi raises his eyebrows, as Tsunade frowns; Hiyori continues, "You're worried about the rest of the family… my family… what they'll think of me… I won't blame them."

Hiashi quickly counters, "Nonsense! The Hyuuga's are a sensible clan; they may be startled at first, but they'll eventually accept you. After all, you were to be the next head of the clan before you passed."

Hiyori was stunned, "Really? You never told me that. In fact, there's allot you haven't told me, I was the one doing most of the talking back in the tower."

"What would you like to know?"

"Well, I always wanted to meet my mother, and any siblings I might have. I already have several brothers and sisters, but none of them are related by blood."

Hiashi was silent for a moment, "My wife… your mother… passed away years ago."

Hiyori was disappointed, there was so much she wanted to ask her; and even if her soul had been sent to the Soul Society, it would be nearly impossible to find her again.

"I'm sorry; however, you were not the only child we had before she passed."

"Really?"

"I have two other daughters, Lady Hinata and Lady Hanabi. Hanabi is my youngest, five years your junior, and Hinata… is your identical twin sister…"

Hiyori was stunned, _'Twin sister?'_

Suddenly she begins to laugh, catching the adults off guard, "A twin sister, huh? So there really _is_ another me running around here after all. No wonder we were caught so quickly."

Hiashi coughs, "Well Lady Hinata isn't exactly like you Hiyori…"

He had tried using proper honorifics when addressing her, but she had made it clear just to call her Hiyori, as Lieutenant Hiyori was proper in her case.

"…you're audacious and outgoing… and Lady Hinata is…well, timid and shy."

She laughs, "At least it'll be easy to tell us apart."

Fifteen minutes later, the trio arrives at the front of the compound, Hiyori stares, awestruck at the massive size of the building. Even Byakuya Kuchiki might have been slightly envious.

"This is your home?"

Hiashi nods, while Tsunade begins to laugh, _'This girl's like a kid in a candy store here.' _

Waiting for them inside is the Hyuuga Clan Council. The council is composed of the Elders of the Main Household, as well as several representatives of the Branch Families; among them is recently appointed Neji Hyuuga. Lady Hinata and Lady Hanabi were also present, which was weird considering that neither were members of the Council.

Hiashi enters the chamber first, followed by the Hokage. An elder from the main household was the first to speak.

"Hiashi, what is the Hokage doing here?"

The Hokage's presence was starting to worry a few of the councilmen; the Council hasn't been called together in months, since before Pain's Invasion. What could be so important that the Hokage had to show up as well?

Hiashi clears his throat, "Thank you all for meeting here in such short notice; I will be blunt, we have a situation on our hands, one that will affect this entire clan."

Most of the Council reminded silent, apart from a few murmurs; Neji was the first to speak, "Lord Hiashi, what's going on?"

"We should just get this over with," Tsunade whispers to Hiashi, he points to the door behind them.

"You may enter now."

Hiyori was told to stay behind the door out in the hallway until she was called; she stands, walks over, and opens the door. The room was silent; Hiyori looks around nervously, feeling the eyes of everyone around her boring into her. She smiles sheepishly…

Several of the Hyuuga Elders immediately began voicing their discomfort…

"Hiashi, is this a joke?"

"This has to be some sort of genjutsu," said another.

"Or a henge…"

It wasn't possible for there to be two Hinata's, unless someone was playing a nasty joke; and Hiashi wasn't the type of person to joke around with something like this, considering the tragedy that befell the main household all those years ago.

Neji was the first to try a proactive approach, Hiyori watches the boy run through a series of hand signs, as he activates his Byakugan. His eyes became brighter, as a series of deep veins appeared on the sides of his face around his temples.

Hiyori was amazed, _'So that's the Byakugan…'_

Many of the other council members follow, activating their Byakugan's as well. The girl wasn't under any sort of henge as far as any of them could tell, and Neji couldn't see any signs of a genjutsu present.

He nudges Hinata on his right, and whispers "Lady Hinata, what's going on?"

Hinata has remained silent, as soon as the girl entered the room; she could tell right away that that something wasn't right. Small beads of sweat were beginning to form at the top of her forehead. Both Neji and her little sister were starting to worry…

"I-I'm not sure who she is… but, I don't think she's supposed to be me."

Neji's eyes widen; he quickly checks the girl's chakra, and is astonished by what he finds.

"Her chakra… it's no higher than an ordinary civilian's."

Even though first impressions might be deceiving, Hinata possesses the deepest chakra reserves of any female of her generation in the village; more than both Sakura and Temari from the Sand. And even though she did not have the rank, Hinata was now as powerful as a jonin level ninja.

But this girl, this look-a-like, possessed chakra levels that were even lower then those of an Academy Student's. Hinata was right; whomever this girl was supposed to be, it definitely wasn't her. Looking around, he comes to the realization that many of the others have figured out the same thing.

"Alright, Hiashi, you have our attention, who is this girl? Very clearly she isn't masquerading as Lady Hinata."

Hiashi was grinning from ear to ear; an uncharacteristic display from the normally stern clan head.

"Go on, introduce yourself…"

Looking around the room, Hiyori quickly locks eyes with her twin. The girl's Byakugan was still active, and it was starting to make Hiyori nervous. It was as if the girl could see right through her gigai and into her soul. Could she know? It was possible… they were twins after all.

She smiles, "My name is Hiyori Hyuuga…It's a pleasure to finally meet all of you."

The room was silent, Neji did a double take, _'Who? I've never heard of a Hiyori Hyuuga before.'_

He turns to Hinata again, but is startled to see the girl with her Byakugan activated, she looks as white as a sheet, and her eyes were wide in terror. Around the room several of the Elders begin to chuckle, as a raucous laughter suddenly fills the room.

"Surely you must be joking, Hiashi!" cried one of the elders.

"Hiyori Hyuuga? Impossible, she's been dead for almost twenty years!"

Hiashi quickly shoots the perpetrators a look to kill, "How dare you! How dare any of you! Do you really think I would joke about something like this? The greatest tragedy ever to befall this family?"

"Greatest tragedy…" Neji was shocked, and slightly appalled, _'even worse then the day my father died?'_

"If this girl is whom she claims to be; then prove it" said one of the Elders with a smirk on his face.

Tsunade smiles and steps forward, "How many of you are familiar with the Spiritualist Medium Jutsu?"

A few of the members nodded reluctantly, while Neji, Hinata, and Hanabu stared on, dumbstruck.

"What jutsu are you talking about, Lady Tsunade?" asked Neji.

"Of course, you kids wouldn't know about it; you're too young. It's a genjutsu that I created that was used primarily during the Second Great Ninja War, and in the conflict against the Stone Village. I had the Third mark it as a forbidden jutsu after Orochimaru used it to bring the dead back to life."

Tsunade explains the situation, and orders everyone to use the technique as a genjutsu on themselves. The Council reluctantly agrees, but soon everyone in the room is under the effects of the technique. Tsunade uses the glove, and frees Hiyori soul from her body like she did in the tower.

The entire Council watches with wide eyes, as Hiyori's gigai falls away, leaving her soul reaper form in its place. Hiashi and Tsunade look on without a care as every single eye in the room is now fixed on the girl.

"W-what the hell is she?"

"She's a ghost! This jutsu gives the user the power to see the dead!"

Hiashi chuckles, _'Their reaction is just what I expected.'_

Hiyori reintroduces herself, "My name really is Hiyori Hyuuga, and I am a member of this clan. I'm not a ghost… I'm a soul reaper…"

Hiashi quickly intervenes, "Now before any of you make a big deal out of this, let me make things perfectly clear… she's not here to harm any of us, or anyone in this village. She's here because she wanted to meet her real family, the family that she never had."

The entire Council was silent, trying to process the scene in front of them, as well as the words from their leader. Whether any of them felt this to be nonsense or not, both the leader of their clan, and the leader of their village seemed to be on board with the girl's story. There wasn't any other choice but to trust the girl for now…

"Excuse me, but who is this girl exactly?" Neji asks, he was still confused, and Hinata did not look to be in a talking mood.

"You're father never told you about her?" Hiashi frowns, surely his brother would have told the boy about her before he died.

Neji shakes his head; Hiashi continues, "She's my daughter, Lady Hinata's twin sister, who died 17 years ago. She was the true heir to this clan…"

Neji gasps, and quickly shoots a glace at Hinata; the girl was still, and her face was bowed. Inside, she was losing a battle with her inner emotions, she wasn't happy…

Several of the Hyuuga Elders begin to voice their opinions, and just as Hiashi predicted, they were starting to accept the girl as one of their own.

"I'm not sure if I'm ready to believe this story or not, but the girls got the support of Lord Hiashi, and the Lady Hokage."

"I was present on the day Lady Hiyori was born; and if it really is you appearing to us again from beyond the grave, then this truly is a miracle!"

Neji was dumbfounded, by all logic he was starring at a dead woman; and not just any dead woman, but Lady Hinata's twin sister, the _true_ next head of the clan. Suddenly he begins to feel like a huge asshole, not only for the way he acted as a kid, but also for a certain incident that happened years ago at the Chunin Exams.

'_All this time, Lady Hinata… you were just like me… trying to defy a destiny that you couldn't escape…' _

The noise in the room is suddenly drowned out by the sounds of mournful sobs. Eventually, all eyes made their way to the far side of the room; Hinata was crying. Her tears weren't of happiness or joy, but of anguish. Silently she stands, and runs out of the room.

"Wait! Hinata!..."

Hiashi tries to stop her, but Hiyori stops him. This was about her, and she knew it. From the moment she had walked into the room, that girl had stared at her with eyes that held nothing but loathing.

"No, father…I'll go after her…"

Hiyori runs after her, disappearing straight through the wall, much to the shock of many of the Council members. She follows the sounds of sobbing to a room in the rear of the house, where Hinata has barricaded herself in her room. In her grief, Hinata has forgotten to cancel Tsunade's technique; so when Hiyori suddenly appears right through the wall, it nearly gives her a heart attack.

"What are you doing here? You're the last person I'd like to see right now!"

Hiyori was right, this was about her, "What's with the hostility? I'm not sure what I did, but I'd like to help."

Hinata wipes away her tears," It's not what you did; it's what you didn't do, though I suppose I have no right to blame you."

"Do you want to talk about it? I know we don't exactly know each other very well, but I have been told that I am a good listener."

She sits down on the bed beside her twin, as Hinata decides to start from the beginning.

"You were born first, so by right, that made you the next head of the clan. When you died that destiny was passed onto me. I've spent my entire life fighting that destiny, until recently. And now I find out that the one thing in life I desire might not happen."

"What's that?"

"I am in love with a man named Naruto Uzumaki; even though he's still young, he's one of the strongest ninja in this village, and the next Hokage for sure. Besides his strength, he has an amazing heart, and his compassion is limitless. When I was I child, I had little self confidence, and I was depressed all the time. But watching him through his trials and hardships gave me the strength to push myself; to better myself. Naruto was the reason why I accepted this destiny. Only recently did I find out that a marriage between us wouldn't ever be possible. There are certain… practices in this clan that Naruto doesn't like, and as the Hokage, he will surely try and change them. My father and many of the elders want to preserve our laws at any cost; even that means keeping me from marrying Naruto."

Hiyori was silent for a moment. Love was a messy and complicated subject that she wasn't going to worry about for another hundred years or so; however, humans did not have the life span of soul reapers, so she could easily see why Hinata was so upset.

"Are you sure this Naruto Uzumaki feels the same way about you?"

Hinata nods, "Naruto had a rough and violent childhood. He grew up with allot of naivety towards social relations; after I revealed my feelings to him, risked my life for him, and nearly died protecting him, he saw what was really in my heart. We aren't dating, because of the war, but he made me a promise that he'd take me out for a proper date."

"Have you talked to father about this?"

"Yes, and the Council several times, they're all against it. I guess when I saw you alive; it opened up so many wounds and I couldn't control myself. I feel that if you were the head of the clan, I could marry Naruto."

Hiyori quickly holds up her hands, "Well technically, I'm still dead. And I didn't come back here to lead anyone; just to visit the family I never had growing up. I have my own responsibilities and obligations."

Hinata seemed crushed, "…Oh…"

"However, if you'd like, maybe I could have a talk with your father and the Council for you?"

"What could you possibly do? Not even Lady Tsunade could change their minds."

Hiyori scoffs, "I'm a soul reaper, and a powerful one at that. I could threaten to kill them and send their souls to the Underworld if I wanted to, and my superiors wouldn't even bat an eye if I did."

Hinata quickly pales, "I… d-didn't need to know that."

She laughs, "I'm sure everything will work itself out, for a human, you're still young; you've still got plenty of time to sort out this love business."

Hinata cracks a smile, "Thank you… for listening."

Hiyori smiles, "No problem, that's what big sisters are for."

* * *

To the North of Fire Country, just beyond the Valley of the End, wedged in between the Countries of Waterfall and Sound, lies an unexplored and dangerous land protected by a treacherous mountain range. It is here that the remaining Akatsuki members lay low; gathering strength to crush their enemies.

Madara's treacherous plan was coming into fruition; his desire to rule the world as its king. He would have no equals, and society as a whole would be beckon to his every whim. His enemies where stronger than he realized, and the birth of a ninja alliance against him was quite unsettling…

To make matters worse, his list of allies were growing thin; most of the Akatsuki were dead, and Konan has defected. The only members left were Kisame and Zetsu; and both were out on missions. Then there was the boy, his ancestor Sasuke Uchiha…

…Madara manipulated the boy's natural desire for power and greed, and used his emotions to mold and shape him into the perfect weapon. The boy's strength has surpassed all of his expectations; by his guess Sasuke was even stronger than Nagato now.

The operation to fuse Itachi's eyes to the boy's was a success; Sasuke was now the second member of the Uchiha Clan to possess the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan. However; Sasuke was quickly becoming cold and ruthless, and Madara feared the boy losing his sanity. He was hard enough to control already…

About a month ago, Madara was approached by a strange man who was clearly not of the living. The Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan allowed him to see things that no regular human should. His Sharingan allowed him to see the spirits from the afterlife; as well as the agents of death themselves…

It was one of these soul reapers that approached him with a proposition; he wanted to use the power of the Ten Tails to forcefully subdue his enemies. The monstrous creature was supposedly so powerful that no one, not from the living or the dead, could possibly stand against it.

The soul reapers name was Sosuke Aizen, a former captain of the Soul Society who led a war against his allies in a attempt to overthrow the king of the afterlife… he lost, and his main source of power was crippled in the process. Aizen claimed no interest in the world of the living, because he was not a living entity; therefore, a formal alliance between the two men was easier for Madara to accept.

The two men were after the exact same goals and desires but in two different worlds, and both were planning to use the same method to obtain ultimate power. As unoriginal as their plan sounded, the two worked out an agreement to split the powers of the Ten Tails in an even share…

In order for the plan to work, Madara and Aizen needed the power of the Eight Tailed Ox and the Nine Tailed Fox. Akatsuki had already captured the other seven, and Madara was ready to use them in battle, if need be.

Aizen supplies his own army of hollows which was ready at moments notice. Many of those hollows were, in fact, dead ninja whose spirits had been intercepted and forcefully turned into hollows. Knowing this action was likely to alert the Soul Society to the area, Aizen was careful to take his own precautions and hid his army in Hueco Mundo; and his soul in an untraceable gigai that he personally designed.

He was confident that the Soul Society would choose not to interfere with the ninja conflict; and once the Ten Tails was successfully summoned, it would be too late for any of them to do anything to stop it.

Madara sits with Aizen at their meeting place like they do every morning, the next stage of their plan called for the termination of the 5 Great Ninja Villages. With the Soul Society looking the other way, Aizen's hollow army could easily crush the ninja's.

With Kisame Hoshigaki on a mission to capture the 8 Tails, that left the Leaf Village the prime victim of this assault. Even though the hougyoku was damaged, and no longer served any use to him as an offensive weapon, Aizen found that he could still create new arrancar's.

Thus the Neo-Espada were born; four of them, born from the strongest menos Aizen could find. Regretfully, these Neo- Espada weren't nearly as powerful as the previous Espada. By his guess, he'd say the strongest member of his Neo- Espada had the strength equivalent of Ulquiorra Cifer's.

A knock on the door interrupts them; it was Neo- Espada 03, Rena Tesla. She was a tall, well- endowed beauty with long blond hair, with a heavy French accent.

She bows, "My lords, we have an intruder…he wishes to speak with both of you."

They stand, and follow the woman outside. Madara and Aizen were both cunning and devious; however, both were completely unaware of a third party that wanted a piece of their power. Madara narrows his eye at the man he sees before him, while Aizen stands off to the side with the girl behind him.

"Kabuto…"

"You know this boy, Madara?" asks Aizen.

"He's one of Orochimaru's subordinates; however, last I heard he was dead. How unfortunate..."

Kabuto grins, "It was Sasuke's doing; I managed to absorb a piece of him into my body. I too, am now curious to learn the secrets of life."

"Why are you here, exactly?"

Madara did not trust Kabuto at all; not after learning of his treachery involving Sasori.

"I'm here to offer a truce; I will lend you the might of the Hidden Sound…"

"…But in exchange for what?" Madara wasn't a fool, and he had a pretty good idea of what Kabuto wanted. Kabuto turns, and locks eyes with Aizen.

"You're Sosuke Aizen, aren't you?"

Aizen was slightly taken aback, "You know who I am?"

Kabuto laughs, "I've met more than my share of soul reapers, and apparently you're a wanted criminal in the afterlife. I was told a rumor that you possess a very special device, the hougyoku, I was told it was called."

Aizen's eyes widen, how did he know about the hougyoku? Had the Soul Society infiltrated this land further than he thought?

"That's correct, I do possess a device called the hougyoku; however, it's not exactly in good working order right now, so I doubt you'd want it."

Kabuto smirks, "In exchange for helping the two of you obtain ultimate power, I want the hougyoku, as well as Sasuke's Sharingan."

He quickly flashes several hands signs, "Here is a token of my good faith, Summoning Jutsu: Impure World Resurrection!"

Madara and Aizen watch in fascination as five caskets rise from the ground, they open, and out pop Hidan, Kakuzu, Deidara, Sasori, and Nagato.

"Hidan, Kakuzu, Deidara, Sasori, and Nagato? That's quite an impressive line up…"

Aizen was impressed, _'The ability to raise numerous souls from the dead, with their powers and abilities perfectly intact; no soul reaper would be capable of doing that.' _

"Your power is amazing Kabuto, you are far stronger than I ever could have guessed…" said Madara.

"…However, I am not ready to except an alliance from you."

Kabuto frowns, he was hoping it wouldn't have to come to this, _'Damn you, old man.'_

"I'm not giving you a choice, Madara" he replied coldly.

"And what would you do if I refused?"

Aizen subconsciously reaches for his sword, _'This could get messy…' _

Kabuto smiles, and quickly summons a sixth coffin, stopping both Aizen and Madara dead in their tracks. Kabuto doesn't open the coffin; instead, he illuminates a design pattern on the front of the door.

Aizen pales, the boy had managed to do in half a second, what it took nearly the entire Soul Society to do… and that was to back him into a corner.

'_I can't afford to part with the hougyoku; but it looks like I don't have a choice,'_

Madara was pissed, even though his mask hid his emotions. The design on the coffin was eerily reminiscent of the necklace worn by the Sage of the Six Paths.

'_This kid! God Damn him!' _

Madara closes his eye, "Very well Kabuto, we accept your proposal."

"We will also agree to your demands, but only after the war is over" said Aizen.

Kabuto smiles, "Very well gentlemen…"

Madara leads the newly resurrected Akatsuki in the base, as Aizen turns to the woman beside him.

"That was quite a show, wasn't it sir? You're not really going to give him the hougyoku are you?"

"Of course not, but at this point I must agree to his demands. You have your own mission, Rena. Do not disappoint me."

She bows, "Of course not, Lord Aizen."


	7. The Attack on the Leaf Village

**Author's note**: Text in Bold, are flashbacks, while text that is both bold and italicized are flashbacks that occur inside someone's thoughts.

I plan to split up the next chapter into two smaller chapters, rather than having one big enormous chapter

enjoy

**The Attack on the Leaf Village**

Hiyori was enjoying the time she was spending with her family. It had taken some time, but by the third day, the members of the Hyuuga clan were starting to warm up to her. Any apprehension felt towards the girl was quickly abandoned once the realization hit that she wasn't going to be around very long.

It was a once in a lifetime chance for a reunion with a part of the clan that was erased from their history.

For Hyori that meant trying to spend as much time with her family as she possibly could. Getting the elders to agree to go along with her father's plan was not easy; it took a great deal of intimidation from Hiashi, Tsunade, and then Hiyori herself to finally get them to go along with the plan. Fortunately no one else outside the family has inquired why it was strange to see two Hinata's in the village.

Tsunade threatens the ANBU to leave the girl alone… for reason she did not make clear.

Besides being treated by Hiashi to a grand tour of the village, Hiyori hasn't spent much time outside of the compound. She's kept her powers suppressed, despite her natural urges to want to show off.

It wasn't long before she became curious about the powers her brethren used. She remembers Soifon explaining her theory about the ninjas, and their powers to her right before she left for the Soul Society. It was something about the ninjas being able to manipulate the energy found in nature, much like soul reapers can manipulate spirit energy.

Neji was the one to explain everything to her…

"**The energy we use is called chakra; I guess that can be described as a person's life force. Each person has a different amount of chakra, and the amount can be increased with exercise, training, experience, and meditation."**

"**Ah, so I guess the principle of energy you ninja use, isn't too much different from a soul reapers."**

"**Can you explain?" **

"**All spirits beings have a set amount of energy that is similar to your chakra; except, we just refer to ours as spirit energy. People that live in the Soul Society, the ones with the highest amounts of spirit energy are the ones that experience hunger and fatigue. **

"**I see…"**

"**In rare cases, living humans are also known to possess spirit energy; it seems as if the Hokage Tsunade is one of those people."**

**Neji changes the subject, there was something that he desired to know quite badly, "Lady Hiyori… if you can… I'd like to know about this place called the Soul Society… it's the afterlife, right?"**

**She smiles, "That's correct, or what humans refer to as the afterlife anyway. I can tell you anything you'd like to know."**

**Perking up, Neji launches his question at her, "Is it possible, that when we die, we'll be reunited with our families on the other side?" **

**Hiyori frowns, now this was a question she did not want to answer, "I'll be honest with you Neji… is it possible to be reunited with family in the afterlife? Sure it is… but is it likely? No…. its not. Souls can spend an eternity trying to find the families they once had while alive, only to never find them…"**

**Neji was crushed, ever since finding out his long lost cousin was a soul reaper from the afterlife, he began nurturing the hope that he might be able to see his long dead father once again.**

**He does mange to look on the bright side, **_**'She did say that it was unlikely, not impossible… Lady Hiyori is here visiting us after all.' **_

Hiyori was curious to see the Byakugan in action, especially after Hiashi had explained to her what the technique actually did. He decides that the best way for Hiyori to see the Byakugan in action, was a sparring match. That afternoon, at the private Hyuuga clan training ground, Hiahsi arranges a match between Neji and Hinata.

News of the match quickly catches the attention of most of the elders and branch families; Neji and Hinata had not met in a proper match of combat and skill since the Chunin Exams. For Hinata, this match was a huge opportunity to prove herself to the rest of her family. Neji on the other hand, would rather be fighting Hiyori. Based on what she had told him during their little conversation, her abilities must be incredible…

"**I understand that you were blessed with the most natural talent out of any member of our generation?"**

**Neji blinks, "That's correct… I was considered a genius growing up." **

**Hiyori smirks, "Oh really? I was considered a prodigy myself; back when I was in the soul reaper academy…**

… **I became a seated officer after only seven years; some soul reapers have to work for a hundred years before they're even considered."**

**Neji frowns mentally; he knew what she was trying to do. Normally he was quite modest about his abilities; but at the same time, he could not hide the fact that his skills exceeded the others in his age group. **

**Neji smiles, "I am the youngest person in this clan to be promoted to jonin. Lord Hiashi and my father were both eighteen when they were promoted. I guess we were given the rawest talent in the family, Lady Hiyori…" **

"**What about Hinata?"**

"**Lady Hinata has allot of potential. I have little doubt that one day her power and abilities will surpass mine; but for now, I am her superior."**

**She smiles, "We should have a match, to see which one of us is superior, the genius… or the prodigy." **

"**With all due respect, Lady Hiyori, I don't see how that would really be possible, seeing as that body you're in isn't built for combat."**

**Hiyori checks her gigai up and down, "Normally, you would be right, but this gigai was specifically designed so that I can channel my spirit energy though it. I could fight you like I am, if you so desire…"**

**Neji shakes his head, "But still, I bet that you'd be more powerful in your soul reaper form."**

"**That's correct. My powers work slightly different from most soul reapers; a good chunk of my strength I have sealed away, so I can only channel part of my strength through this artificial body. However… the strength that I do have should be efficient enough to beat you…"**

**He smiles, "You think so, Lady Hiyori?"**

**Hiyori grins big, like a Cheshire cat, "I'm confident in my abilities, Neji. I'm not one to boast, but I never turn down a good fight…**

…**oh, and stop with the honorifics, already. They're annoying."**

**Neji gasps, "You're a member of the Main Household, and the true heir to the clan. As a member of the branch family, I can not possibly show you such disrespect!" **

"**Well, if you insist, just call me Lieutenant Hiyori… or just Lieutenant; that's what my subordinates call me."**

"**You have subordinates?" **

"**There are thirteen separate divisions in the Soul Reaper Court Guard. I'm the lieutenant of the 5****th**** Division, but because my division does not have a captain, I have those responsibilities as well. As for my subordinates; there are three hundred of them."**

"**What! three hundred?"**

"**Yeah, but it's not as grand as you may think it is. Half the time, I'm stuck doing paperwork all day…" Hiyori replies sheepishly. **

**Neji was shocked; Lady Hiyori wasn't just any ordinary soul reaper. She obviously must be very powerful to have full control over such a large division. Not only that, but she was obviously a very competitive person, as she managed to push his buttons several times. **

'_**It's so strange, Lady Hiyori… how different you are from your sister… perhaps I should consider myself lucky that you passed on when you did. Hinata's life… and my life… would be drastically different had you lived.'**_

**_

* * *

_**

Hinata stands across from her cousin Neji, in the middle of the field of the private Hyuuga training ground. Hiashi, Hiyori, Hanabi, along with many of the clan elders are present. The elders are curious to see just how Hinata, the living heir to the clan, has improved over the years. Hiashi too, was curious… he had allowed Naruto to train Hinata, knowing full well his daughters feelings towards the boy.

"Are you ready, Lady Hinata? I'm not going to go easy on you just because this is an exhibition match."

Neji gets into stance and activates his Byakugan; even though he'd rather test his skill against Hiyori, he figures Hinata has improved enough to at least give him a good fight.

Hinata frowns, "I'm not the same girl I was during the Chunin Exams; I'll show just how much I've improved!"

Hinata activates her Byakugan, as the two cousins face each other down in classic Hyuuga stance. Hiyori was ecstatic; this was the first time she'd get to see what she had dubbed as the "Hyuuga style" of fighting. Her Byakugan was long dead, so it was special getting to see it in action.

Hinata charges first, engaging Neji with her gentle fist. Neji struggles, finding himself being pushed back. She hadn't been lying, she really had improved. With his Byakugan, he's astonished to see that Hinata's chakra levels have actually increased.

Neji fends off her attacks, and counters. Even though her strikes were powerful, her form was lacking speed. He grins, quickly blocking her strikes. In one swift motion, he breaks her defense, and lands a blow on her chest that sends her backwards.

"Your strikes have allot of power, Lady Hinata, but you lack the speed to land a blow against me."

Hinata coughs, and covers her mouth; she can see blood on her hand…

'_He's right… I can't defeat him if he's faster than me.'_

She takes an offensive stance, the pose being foreign to Neji, and the rest of the Hyuuga clan. Her body suddenly explodes with blue chakra, as two lion heads form on the ends of both palms. She has only used her Twin Lion's Fist once before against Pain; to this day, none of the members of her clan had seen the technique.

Neji's eyes widen; her chakra levels have tripled. The power she was emitting was enormous. Hiashi, as well as many of the clan elders, quickly activate their Byakugan's.

'_Since when did Lady Hinata become so powerful?'_

Hiashi figures this to be Naruto's doing; he had no idea what they actually did during their training sessions… but, he liked this newer, edgier version of his daughter. Hiyori looks on, impressed….

Hinata attacks, darting forward within the blink of an eye. Neji barely has any time to reach, as Hinata's barrage sends him sprawling backwards. In a desperate attempt to counter, he uses Rotation at the last second; catching Hinata in a tornado of chakra. The two attacks cancel each other out, as both Neji and Hinata are sent flying in opposite directions amidst a sea of dust.

Neji throws several kunai, as Hinata counters. The knives hit each other in mid air, and fall to the ground. The two engage each other with another gentle step, both looking for the same knock out blow. Hiashi was amazed, was he really seeing Hinata… his shy, timid daughter Hinata… fighting evenly with the clan prodigy? He smiles, finally feeling that sense of pride he was always reserving just for her.

Neji and Hinata break their stances, and back away from each other. Neji sees a golden opportunity, and quickly seizes it. He readies himself for his patent Eight Trigrams Sixty Four Palms attack; using his speed he rushes Hinata, looking to end the match. Much to his shock, Hinata counters, protecting herself with a defensive variant of his attack.

'_Now she's just mocking me!'_

Enraged, Neji repeats the attack, faster than Hinata can counter. He hits sixty four of her chakra points, before knocking her to the ground with a blow to the heart. Blood begins to pour from Hinata's mouth, as she struggles to make it to her feet.

'_Finally… this match is over. I managed to block enough of her chakra points to immobilize her. You fought well Lady Hinata, but you still aren't good enough to beat me yet.'_

Hiashi steps forward, ready to call the match. Even though she lost, he was still proud of Hinata for holding her own against a jonin level ninja. However, much to everyone's surprise, Hinata gets back to her feet with a look of fierce determination on her face.

Neji gasps, "Lady Hinata, stop this! The match is over!"

Hinata screams, as she summons all the chakra she can with her points blocked. Neji, her father, and the rest of the clan look on, dumbfounded. Hiyori smiles, she recognized that look of determination. It was clear to her that Hinata wasn't going to go down without taking Neji with her; and she respected her for that.

Hinata forms a hand sign that Neji knows all too well. He watches in disbelief as Hinata performs the Shadow Clone Jutsu, producing one clone of herself. Hiyori growls, she recognizes the move as that wretched clone technique the ANBU had used to subdue her.

"It's not over Neji! I still have one technique left!" Hinata screams at the top of her lungs.

Everyone watches in horror and fascination, as Hinata's clone begins to mold and shape the chakra in her hand, forming the technique made famous by the Fourth Hokage.

'_The Rasengan? That's impossible! When in the Hell did she learn it?' _

Hiashi was stunned, he never imaged that Naruto would teach Hinata a move as destructive as the Rasengan, let alone that she could possibly master it. With that technique, Hinata's powers would surpass even his own.

Hiyori frowns, while she did not know what that technique was, the scanners inside her gigai were telling her that this move had enough power to seriously injure Neji if he were to take a direct hit.

Hinata screams, and rushes forward as quickly as she can. Neji grits his teeth, and prepares to counter. Hiashi glances over to Hiyori, only to see the girl with a look of determination on her face. He yells in shock, as she disappears right in front of his eyes; a split second later an explosion rips the area. The Rasengan detonates into the ground, creating an earthquake that nearly knocks the Hyuuga clan on their backsides.

Hiashi opens his eyes to see Neji and Hinata lying on the ground; Hiyori was sitting on top of Hinata, her hand locked firmly around Hinata's wrist. Hiyori flashed stepped at the last moment, and intercepted her sister's attack, driving it into the ground.

Hiashi is interrupted by a tug on his shirt; he turns, it was Hanabi. The girl had been watching the match with fascination, stopping every few moments to catch a glace at her "older sister" Hiyori. She's just as shocked as her father, having seen Hiyori disappear into mid air.

"Father… did you…"

He nods, and turns to the elders. None of them saw the girl move from her spot; they were all watching in horror as Hinata tried to crush Neji with the Rasengan. Neji opens his eyes, to find himself inside the middle of a crater. He checks his body, which wasn't damaged. He looks up; Hinata was lying unconscious, with Hiyori sitting beside her.

"What happened?"

Hiyori stands, "I stopped Hinata from hitting you with… whatever attack that was. I never guessed it'd be so powerful; you'd probably be dead if it weren't for me."

"You stopped the attack? But how? I never even saw you move."

Hiyori smirks, "If you couldn't even see an evasive maneuver that basic, then you have no business lecturing anyone on their speed."

Neji growls, and mumbles something under his breath. Hinata slowly starts to regain consciousness. Looking around, she sees Neji lying in front of her, and Hiyori standing beside her. She was lying face down inside a giant fissure in the ground.

"Wha…"

"Lady Hinata, please stay still!"

Neji checks her over; her injuries weren't too severe, but she was suffering from chakra exhaustion. Hinata struggles to her feet; she guessed she must have missed Neji and slammed the Rasengan into the ground.

Hiyori helps Hinata to her feet, and helps her back to the compound, "That was a good fight, I was impressed…"

Hinata smiles, even though she did get a tad reckless towards the end. She was just glad that no one had gotten hurt.

Later that night, Hiashi decides to ask Hiyori about the incident. Hinata was recovering from the match, and Hanabi had already gone to bed. Her genin team was being called on a mission early in the morning. Hiyori was in the kitchen, making herself a late night snack. Hisahi enters to get himself a glass of water…

"You were the one who stopped Lady Hinata from using the Rasengan, weren't you?"

"You saw me?"

Hiashi frowns, "There isn't much that can escape my Byakugan, but you did."

"The technique is called flash step. Most soul reapers are capable of using it; however only masters can perform it the most effectively."

"And what about you?"

Hiyori smiles, "When I was in the Academy, there were really only two things I excelled in… swordsmanship, and flash step… I am considered a flash step master, but I guess that's to make up for the fact that I can't use binding spells, or summon barriers."

"That flash step, it reminds me of a technique an old friend of mine used to use. He was a legend in this village; in fact, his likeliness is carved upon the mountain I took you to the other day. He was given the nickname the "Yellow Flash" for his incredible speed."

"Well, I may be a flash step master, but I'm certainly not the best. The soul reaper I came here with, Captain Soifon, she's one of the fastest people in the Soul Society. And I am surprised at many of the things the humans here can do; I used an average flash step while I was fighting the ANBU, and they still managed to track me."

Hiashi smiles, "Thank you, for stepping in and stopping Hinata. I had no idea that she had improved so quickly… I guess it was… shocking…to see her fight so evenly with Neji."

* * *

Hueco Mundo was such a desolate place, a vast desert filled with endless amounts of white sand. Beneath the sand, lies the Menos Forest. It is here that hollows dwell as they travel back and forth from the Soul Society, and the world of the living. Even though Aizen's previous army of arrancars had been defeated, there were still hollows, still gillians, and still adjuchas living within the Menos Forest.

Rena Tesla stands on a ledge, looking out over a sea of hollows. Before she had met Aizen, she had always been obsessed with power. As an adjucha, she fought to survive, devouring the souls of all the hollows she came across. Eventually, she reached the pinnacle of the power of a menos; she became a vasto lorde. Aizen had promised her even more power, transforming her into an arrancar...

Lord Aizen has given her control over his hollow army; her mission was to crush the hidden leaf villages… one by one. Even though the ninja's of these villages were powerful, Aizen's army would have one major advantage. These humans had no spirit energy, and would not even be able to see to defend themselves from an attack… Rena was expecting a slaughter.

In addition to the destruction of the hidden villages, she's been given a task by Lord Madara as well. That was to capture the jinjuriki Naruto Uzumaki of the Leaf Village, as well as the elimination of certain villagers…

The Hidden Leaf Village has been deemed the weakest of the Hidden Villages, having not fully recovered from Pain's assault month's ago. And as the home of the Nine Tailed Fox jinjuriki… the Leaf Village was the first on the list to be obliterated.

She reads over her "hit list" for the last time. It gives the names and a brief description of several powerful ninja that Lord Madara found it necessary to be killed…

**Naruto Uzumaki**

Jinjuriki of the Nine Tailed Fox

Age: 17

Hair: blond

Eyes: blue

**Tsunade Senju**

5th Hokage

Age: 55 appears 25

Hair: blond

Eyes: hazel

**Shikaku Nara **

Jonin Commander

Age: 42

Hair: Black

Eyes: green

**Hiashi Hyuuga **

Age: 42

Hair: Black

Eyes: lavender and pupiless

**Kakashi Hatake **

Age: 30

Hair: grey

Eyes: brown- processes Sharingan

**Might Guy **

Age: 30

Hair: black

Eyes: black

**Kurenai Yuhi **

Age: 31

Hair: black

Eyes: red

**Shikamaru Nara **

Age: 17

Hair: black

Eyes: green

She frowns, the task would be so much easier to accomplish if she had some pictures to go with the names on the list. She vaguely understood the ninja ranks; jonin was at the top, chunin in the middle, and genin at the bottom. The kage was the leader of the village.

'_Oh well, I guess I'll just have tot kill everyone in the village then…' _

She summons a group of a half dozen adjucha's; they were her subordinates, and her commanding officers.

"We leave for the village tomorrow morning; I will send each of your squads into attack as waves. Even though these humans won't be able to see us using spirit energy, I understand they have some method in order to fight us. Keep your guards up, and do not show them any mercy…

…Pour la gloire de seigneur Aizen!"

* * *

It was Hiyori's last day with her family; and even though the visit was quite short in order to make up for the past seventeen years, all and all she was happy with the time she got to spend with her family. She knew now that she came from a wealthy, respected family with amazing abilities.

Seeing the Byakugan in action was amazing; it gave her goose bumps when she came to the realization of how similar the technique was to her Senkennomei. The Byakugan gave the Hyuuga's a perfect defense, while Senkennomei was the ultimate defensive zanpakuto… she thought it was quite fitting…

While things were initially rocky between her and her twin sister, Hiyori was confident that their relationship has improved to the point where Hinata wasn't going to be harboring some eternal grudge against her.

Hiyori had made good on her promise…she had that little talk with the clan elders. And while Hiyori wasn't able to change their minds right away, she had made things very clear that she would become the judge and jury over the Council in death, if Hinata's dreams were crushed under the weight of a destiny that wasn't hers… even if that meant liberating one of the most selfish laws in the clan to prevent that action…

It was said that the elders had left the meeting feeling disturbed, and slightly paranoid…

As a token of gratitude, Hinata decides to treat her sister to lunch at the Ichiraku Ramen Bar. It was the first time the two sisters had appeared in public together, and all the glares she was receiving were causing Hinata to have second thoughts.

'_If anyone says anything, just stick to the story… just stick to the story….'_

While Ichiraku's was normally a desolate place in the early afternoon; much to Hinata's discomfort, she soon finds that not only were Team Seven…Naruto, Sai and Sakura… present, but her teammates as well. She takes one step into the shop, and immediately turns as white as a sheet.

'_Kiba… Shino… Naruto! Oh no…'_

"Hey, Hinata! You decided to join us after all?" said Kiba.

Naruto mumbles a cheerful hello under a mouthful of food, only to be greeted by a scornful glare from Sakura, berating his horrible manners. Hinata sighs, and enters the shop. The group turns at the sound of an unfamiliar voice, and gasps as a second Hinata walks in behind her.

The Hinata clone was dressed in a more liberating fashion, with clothes that hugged her figure, rather than cover it like Hinata's did. The girl had a sword strapped vertically to her back.

Hinata's teammates move to give the girls some room. Hinata takes the seat beside Kiba, while Hiyori takes the seat beside Naruto, while the rest of the group continues to stare at the giant elephant in the room.

"Hinata, I thought you were brining your sister." Shino replies with confusion.

"This is my sister… m-my half sister… f-from the Land of Grass." She stumbles.

Hiyori turns, "My names Hiyori Hyuuga, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Hinata introduces Hiyori to her teammates, then to Sakura, Sai, and Naruto. Hiyori stops when she gets to Naruto, and smiles.

"So you're Naruto Uzumaki..." She looks him over, much to Naruto's embarrassment.

"…You were right Hinata, he is very handsome…I can see why you like him so much."

Kiba laughs, as Hinata turns crimson red with embarrassment; Naruto nearly chokes on his food, as Sakura stares opened mouth at the girl in shock.

Hiyori laughs, and pats Hinata on the back, "So you were the one that taught Hinata the Rasen-whatchama-call- it. She almost killed Neji with it the other day."

Sakura gasps, "Naruto… you actually taught Hinata the Rasengan?"

"I don't see the big deal; I taught it to Konahamaru as well."

"That's awesome, Hinata…" yells Kiba, patting the girl on the back as well.

"…I would have loved to have seen Neji's face when you used it against him."

Hinata smiles, even though the truth was Hiyori had stopped her from using the technique against Neji.

They order, as Hiyori continues to chat with the others. It was amazing how charismatic she was; that even with complete strangers, she could talk to them like she had known them for years. It wasn't something that she had been blessed with; she was socially awkward, and Hinata knew it.

The group chats into the afternoon, and decides to leave together. Kurenai, Kakashi, Yamato, and the rest of the jonin were all in meetings with the Hokage, so missions were currently frozen for the day. Hinata finds herself joined by Kiba on the walk back.

"So Hinata, how long is your sister going to be in the village?" asks Kiba.

"Today is her last day, she goes back tomorrow." She replies regrettably.

"That's too bad, she's hysterical… what rank is she again?"

Hinata hesitates, "She's uh… a jonin…"

"That's weird; I didn't even see her headband"

Hinata shrugs, "She wears it on her waist."

He takes another look, and sure enough, there was the symbol for the Hidden Grass Village. Hinata's father had the crude fake forged, just in case anyone became suspicious.

A sudden burst of spirit pressure nearly bowls Hiyori over. She stops in the middle of the street with her eyes glued to the sky. It was being ripped apart by some invisible force. A pair of huge hands appears out of the rift, and tears back the sky like a piece of paper. It was a Menos Grande…

Hiyori grits her teeth, as two more of the monstrous creatures sudden appear in the sky outside the village.

"Hinata! Go get the Hokage, go get the Hokage immediately!"

Hinata has never seen her sister so upset, she looks up at the sky, only to see nothing there.

"What's going on Hiyori?"

Hiyori instructs Hinata to use the jutsu that Tsunade had taught her; she performs the hand signs, as her vision is engulfed in brilliant light. She can see four massive creatures; their elongated bodies towering over the landscape, and reaching up towards the heavens. The sky has been distorted and ripped apart in several places, like cracks in a vase.

She screams, "W-what… what in God's name are those things?"

The rest of the group stands dumbfounded. What was in the sky? They couldn't see anything…

Hiyori runs towards the front of the eastern gate of the village, with team seven and team eight in pursuit. There was nothing standing in between them, and the massive Menos but a large grassy field, and a forest clearing.

* * *

In the center of the village, Tsunade collapses in her chair. She has just finished the first set of meets with the jonin, discussing the tactics needed to fight Madara's army, and where to place each teams of ninja. One of their worst fears was an alliance between Kabuto's Sound Village, and the Akatsuki. She has given Anko Mitarashi the task of tracking down, and apprehending Kabuto.

She was already exhausted, and she had another set of meetings that afternoon…

A sudden burst of spirit pressure stops her cold; she turns towards the window, and screams so loudly that Shizune bursts into the room.

"Lady Hokage! Lady Hokage what's wrong?"

Tsunade was standing at the window, her eyes were wide, and she was trembling in fear. Shizune suddenly pales… _'don't tell me…'_

Tsuande turns; she was struggling not to lose her composure, "Shizune! Shizune… I want you to get as many jonin as you can find, and meet me at the eastern gate!"

"What's going on, are we being attacked by the Akatsuki?"

"No… it's worse…"

Tsunade runs to the balcony, flings open the doors, propels herself over the railing, and begins to rapidly jump from balcony to balcony, in a desperate attempt to locate the soul reaper. In desperation, Shizune performs her master's spirit seeking technique; a decision she quickly regrets…

She gasps, unable to look away from the monsters that fill her vision. She backs away, on instinct, and runs frantically through the halls of the tower, trying to find someone… anyone… that can help her.

Tsunade finds Hiyori, along with teams seven and eight, at the eastern wall of the village. Her presence suddenly takes them by surprise; it was rare for her to be out and about by herself.

Sakura gasps, "Lady Tsunade, what are you doing here?"

She ignores her, and makes a bee line straight for Hiyori, "You…

…do you mind telling me just what the Hell those things are?"

"They're called Menos Grande; I'd place their threat level as a yellow flag."

"Well aren't you going to do something about them?"

She growls, "You could show me a little bit more respect, Tsunade. I am not one of these ninja lackeys that you can just order around!"

Tsunade was seething, as the members of teams seven and eight look on horrified. Was this girl really challenging the Hokage? Did she have a death wish?

"It's not them I'm worried about…" The tone of Hiyori's voice has changed; it was softer now. She turns, and looks Tsunade right in the eye.

"…you can feel it to, can't you? Something's coming… this village is in danger."

Hinata screams as another rift opens up above the village. There were now six Menos Grande, and they had the village surrounded. While they were powerful, they were no match for Hiyori; however, it did not make any sense for so many to show up at once. And this spirit energy… it was so thick and heavy… way too much for a couple of Menos Grande to produce.

'_They're spies, sent to scout the area, probably for soul reapers. But for what? I haven't seen a single hollow since I've been here. They couldn't possibly be planning a full on assault… that would be crazy.' _

"Grandma Tsunade! What's going on? You and that girl can see something we can't!"

"It's difficult… but I'll explain everything… to all of you…"

Hiyori quickly interrupts, "Tsunade, gather as many ninja as you can that can use that technique of yours, and bring them here."

She smiles, pointing into the distance "They're already here…"

Shizune appears bringing with her Yamato, Kurenai, a renewed Kakashi, as well as Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji. The seven ninja land in formation beside the others. They did not exchange pleasantries…something major was happening, and they had to be ready for anything.

Hiyori had heard rumors of Aizen building a hollow army within Hueco Mundo; but the Soul Society had no solid proof of the speculation. However, it had been twenty years since the Winter War; more than enough time for Aizen to build a new army...

Tsunade gathers all the ninja together; other than Hinata and Shizune, no one else had a clue what was going on. They were the only ones that could see the gargantuan monsters outside the village.

"Teams seven, eight, and ten… we have a serious crisis on our hands… one that may threaten the very existence of this village…

"…I have a special technique that I need to show you."


	8. Mission Impossible: Protect the Village

Text in _italics_ are thoughts, text in **bold** are flashbacks, and text that is **bolded** and _italicized_ is a flashback that occurs in a memory...

Big thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, and enjoyed the story so far...

**Mission Impossible: Protect the Leaf Village **

What started as any other routine day was quickly turning into a nightmare for the ninja's of the Hidden Leaf Village. Unbeknownst to many of the villagers, except for a select few, there was a soul reaper living amongst them.

Despite her rank, Hiyori Hyuuga knew very little about the situation involving Aizen. She knew as much about his undertakings as the captains did. As a lieutenant, and the commanding officer of her division, she was entitled to such vital information. However, she was not expecting this… a full scale hollow attack on her former family's village.

There were six of them, six Menos Grande towering over the forests, and surrounding the village in a wide circle. Hiyori stood with Tsunade Senju, the leader of the village, and three full teams of ninja at the eastern gate of the village, facing what her father Hiashi had referred to as the Forest of Death.

She turns to look at her sister Hinata, who still had her eyes glued to the sky. She was terrified, and her panic was quickly starting to rub off on the other ninja present.

The boy called Naruto Uzumaki, her sister's love interest, turns to address the Hokage, "Grandma Tsunade! You, this girl, and Hinata can see something that that the rest of us can't! You owe us an explanation!"

The other ninja nod their heads in agreement; Tsuande nods in return, "What I have to say isn't easy… the truth of this situation will be hard to digest, so I give you fair warning to prepare yourselves."

"Teams Seven, Eight, and Ten" she said looking around, "Are any of you familiar with the Spiritualist Medium Jutsu?"

Kurenai gasps, as Kakashi bows his head. Sakura did a double take, _'The Spiritualist Medium Jutsu? Isn't that forbidden?' _

"With all due respect Lady Hokage, that jutsu is forbidden" answers Kurenai.

She knew what the technique did; it was a genjutsu that allowed people to see the spirits of the deceased. Though she wasn't exactly sure why the Hokage was asking them if they knew it.

Tsunade frowns, "I'm aware, Kurenai, because I'm the one who created it; and I'm also the one who had it forbidden… but as the Hokage, I am giving all of you permission to use it."

Tsunade gives a brief explanation of the technique; as a genjutsu it can be used as a diversionary tactic, by using the souls of the dead to confuse an enemy.

"However", she continues "If the user casts the genjustu on themselves, it will allow them to see the souls of the dead."

Kakashi interrupts, "Why would this technique help us…"

"…unless she expects us to fight a bunch of ghosts" finishes Shikamaru, shrugging.

Ino Yamanaka smirks, as Kiba Inuzuka tries to stop himself from laughing. Hinata growls and suddenly yells, catching the entire group off guard.

"This isn't a joke! Our lives are in danger!"

The entire group stares at the Hyuuga Heiress in shock; Hinata's eyes widen in fear as one of the massive Menos walks dangerously close to the village, its massive girth causing the earth to shake and buckle beneath the feet of the ninja.

"What was that? An earthquake?"

"It's coming closer to the village!" screams Shizune.

Hiyori steps forward and addresses the group, "This technique won't just allow you to see ghosts; it will allow you to see into the spiritual world itself."

Tsunade grits her teeth, turns towards the rest of the ninja, and quickly begins to cycle through the hand signs for her technique. The rest of the ninja follow; suddenly finding their senses overwhelmed by a brilliant light. Even though Tsunade had given them fair warning, it wasn't enough to prepare them for what they were about to see…

Screams and gasps of horror and shock fill the air, as the three teams of ninja try the grasp the setting in front of them. There were monsters, as tall as mountains, towering above the landscape; the sky looked like someone had smashed it with a giant hammer.

"W-what the hell is that thing?" screams Sakura.

"It's enormous!"

"Look, they're others over there!" yells Kiba.

"Calm down! Everyone just calm down!" said Tsunade, quickly throwing her hands up.

"That's easier said than done!"

"Alright, you've got my attention…" said Shikamaru, "Just what are those things anyway?"

Kakashi activates his sharingan in an attempt to see the monsters more clearly; as expected, he could not see any traces of chakra.

"Whatever these… things are; they aren't of the living."

The only person currently not watching the Menos Grande was, of course, Naruto. The blond had no talent for genjustu at all; and he suddenly felt very small now knowing that even Kiba and Choji knew basic genjutsu. He grits his teeth, clenches his fist, and stares at the ground.

Suddenly, he finds himself being pulled inside his subconscious. Naruto stops, coming face to face with the giant cage within his body… the cage holding the Nine Tailed Demon Fox.

Naruto slowly looks around, "Alright Fox, what do you want? Why did you bring me here?"

It growls, showing its massive orange head to Naruto, "I know what's going on; I can show you."

"Then what, what's happening?" he demands.

The fox frowns, "The village is under attack, by creatures that are… not of this world."

"What? You mean like an alien?"

"Stupid brat! I'm talking about ghosts, beings from the spirit realm; the afterlife!"

Naruto's eyes widen in confusion, "But how is that possible?"

"There are ghosts all around this village, dead souls of the departed. Of course it isn't possible for ordinary humans to see them without special methods; but for a demon like me, it's easy."

"I can see into the spirit realm; use my power Naruto, and see for yourself," It said in a coaxing voice.

Naruto opens his eyes, his pupils turning red, empowered by the Fox. He gasps, overcome by the sheer size of the monstrous creature in front of him.

"Is that… a ghost?" he asks the Fox.

It growls softly and replies several seconds later, "I do not know, for all of the centuries I have been alive, I have never seen such a creature; however, it is a creature that exists only in the spirit realm, for that I am sure."

Naruto growls, as the Fox shakes its head. Though it was centuries old, it knew of forces in the afterlife that were much older than it. These forces were not only old, but powerful… powerful enough to possibly even rival the mighty Nine Tailed Fox.

'_There is one thing that irks me though' _it thought. _'That Hyuuga brat, the one with such infatuation for the boy, her clone… if I can even call her a clone… the aura surrounding her reminds me of a soul reaper. But it's too strong to be an ordinary soul reaper; it's as if she's…_

…_No! That's impossible! They don't ever leave the Soul Society… why would one show up here?' _

Hiyori approaches the Hokage, "Release me, and I'll explain everything to them."

Tsunade nods, and puts on her glove. With one swift thrust, she pushes the skull emblem into Hiyori's forehead, and releases her soul reaper form. The others stare on in shock, as Hinata catches Hiyori's gigai as it hits the ground.

"Wh- just what the Hell is this girl? She's not a ninja!" Ino stammers, pointing at the girl.

"She's a soul reaper…" said Kurenai.

"…There's no denying it."

Kurenai has seen a soul reaper before, and unlike many, she was one of the few who knew just what a soul reaper actually did.

"A what?" asks Ino.

"A soul reaper… they are the beings in charge of ferrying dead souls to the afterlife." She responds bluntly.

Hiyori smiles, "Impressive; I'd expect nothing less from Hinata's sensei."

"Wait, I'm confused…" said Shino

"…does that mean you're a human?"

She shakes her head, "I ceased to be human seventeen years ago; I'm already dead if that's what you mean."

A few of the ninja pale… they were talking to a dead girl…

"If you are a soul reaper, then why are you here?" asks Shikamaru.

Hiyori puts a hand on Hinata's shoulder and smiles, "To visit my twin sister of course."

There was another uproar, as Tsunade quickly moves to intercept by changing the subject. Kakashi's eyes suddenly widen, _'I see, so she was the other intruder that infiltrated the village a few days ago… that also means… that the woman I fought was also a soul reaper in disguise.'_

"Hiyori, I know you're more than qualified to tell us what we're dealing with here. Just what are those things? What can we do to defeat them?"

Hiyori smiles and turns to address the woman behind her, "Honestly Tsunade, if I wanted to kill these things, I already would have."

Tsunade's face turns bright red, "What! Are you telling me you could have already killed these things!"

The rest of the ninja cower beneath their Hokage's glare. They knew that pissing her off was bad health decision.

Hiyori throws her hands up in defense, "I could have killed them, yes, but the Soul Society won't be able to pinpoint our location as easily if I did."

Tsunade gasps, "You mean they're watching us? …Now?"

"Actually they've been monitoring this village ever since I got here. I've set up a perimeter of monitoring systems around the village…"

Ignoring the glare from Tsunade, she continues, "…But it's not them I'm worried about. I can feel something else, something bigger…"

"Like what? What's going on?"

Hiyori looks the woman straight in the eye and turns to address the rest of the ninja, "You can feel it too, can't you Tsunade? This energy, this dense spirit energy, is way too feral to be created by them…" she points to the Menos Grande.

"Look at the cracks in the sky… if you look through the rift, you can see the entrance to Hueco Mundo."

"Hueco Mundo… is that… the name of the Underworld?" asks Kakashi.

Hiyori frowns, "The Underworld? No… but it might as well should be. Hueco Mundo is the place where hollows dwell. It is a barren world, filled with nothing but endless deserts."

"Hollows?"

She sighs, "When human souls linger too long in this world; compelled by their greed, their fear, or their desire to see their loved ones once more, they become…enveloped… by darkness. They become monsters; their souls become… hollow, hence the name."

"So those things…" acquires Yamato, pointing at the enormous creatures

"…are Hollows?"

"No, they are called Menos Grande; they are the compilation of hundreds of individual hollows packed together…"

"…They are merely scouts, foot soldiers; I'm not worried about them."

Sakura finds herself staring in wonder, _'These… things… are foot soldiers? And if what the soul reaper said was true, then they have the power of hundreds of individual people… or at least individual souls.'_

The sky above them continues to contort and change; the rips the sky becomes deeper. Hiyori reaches into her robes, and pulls out a foreign looking device. She activates it, sending a bright blue light into the heavens. Hiyori was going to contact the Soul Society; things were going to get ugly here.

"Don't be alarmed, I am calling the Soul Society for backup…."

"…Attention, Soul Society, this is Lieutenant Hiyori Hyuuga of the 5th Division… Do you read me?"

Hiyori's beacon is soon received by the Surveillance Unit of the Research and Development Institute.

Rin Tsubokura was the first to answer the call, "Yes? Go ahead, Lieutenant."

"I am reporting sightings of six Menos Grande around the Village Hidden in the Leaves. My coordinates are 980.805- 747.143. I have a perimeter set up and ready to go; I am requesting the release of the Gentei Rejin seal."

He checks the screen in front of him, the Lieutenant wasn't lying. He can see the outline of half a dozen Menos Grande. The integrity of the sky above the village was quickly disintegrating, and Tsubokura could see the outline of the hollows above, waiting to tear through.

He gasps, _'There must be hundreds of them; perhaps thousands!'_

Hiyori's device buzzes as Tsubokura replies with rather grim news, "Lieutenant! You've got to evacuate! They're countless number of hollows above you inside of that rift!"

"What? Hundreds!" she screams "You better not be fucking with me Tsubokura!"

"N-no! No ma'am!"

"Send a back up squad to this location immediately! And I want the Gentei Rejin seal lifted on that barrier, you hear me!"

Hiyori angrily discontinues the message, and turns grim faced back towards the ninja. They had heard the entire message, the words hollows, countless, and evacuate were still ringing in their ears. Hiyori's face said it all; they were doomed… weren't they…

"Hiyori… what can we do… tell us!" demands a panicked Tsunade.

Hiyori looks around and points to the sky, "It's as I feared, there is an army of hollows just beyond the rift in the sky. They'll push their way into this world and annihilate this village and everyone in it…"

"… unless, we fight back."

"But how? We won't even be able to see them right?" asks Kiba.

"You can see me can't you? You… all of you… should be able to fight them."

Hiyori pauses and begins to mull over a different problem, "Quite frankly, I'm worried about the village. We don't have enough time to evacuate all of the people, and with just fifteen people under Tsunade's jutsu… we don't stand a chance of stopping them all…"

"…The rest of the ninja won't be able to sense them coming, so they won't be able to defend themselves from an attack. If we could find a way of warning all of the people, while giving them the ability to see the dead, we should be alright."

Tsunade smiles, "I know a way…"

Hiyori frowns, "How? You don't really expect to be able to train all of these people to use your technique do you? We're running of time."

Tsuande was already two steps ahead, she gathers chakra around her, her body glowing in a brilliant blue light. She makes the hand signs, and slams her palm to the ground…

"…Summoning Jutsu!"

Out of a puff of smoke, Tsunade summons a human sized slug. Hiyori stares at the insect with curiosity.

"Katsuyu, we have a dire situation on our hands. I want you to take my chakra, and attach yourself to every chunin and jonin in the village, so that they too can see into the spiritual realm."

"Yes m'lady!"

Hiyori watches in fascination as the slug splits and multiples itself, suddenly becoming hundreds of other slugs. The hoard of insects splits up, and races to the different sides of the village. Hiyori looks to the sky; the enormous cracks had finally given way, forming large holes in the sky. From the holes, dozens of creatures begin to rain down on top of the village.

"The hollows! There here!"

Tsuande gathers the ninja to her, "Teams Seven, Eight, and Ten… I am placing all of you under the leadership of Hiyori Hyuuga! She knows how to fight these creatures, and how to kill them. Listen to her, and do what she tells you to do!"

Several dozen hollows, land near the group; while they were much smaller than the Menos Grande, they still looked fearsome, like monsters out of a fairytale.

Hiyori draws her zanpakuto, "Listen up! When fighting hollows, it's real simple…"

With one swift swing of her blade, she cuts a menacing bird- like hollow in half, shattering it's mask.

"… aim for the head; destroy the mask, and you destroy the hollow."

Gathering chakra in her hand, Tsunade delivers a devastating punch, sending one of the hollows flying into a rock; its mask shatters immediately, and the hollow dies.

"I see… Alright! Lets protect this village with everything we have! Whether we can see the enemy or not, we shall not fail!"

Tsunade turns to Shizune, "Go inform the elders of this attack, I'll go into the Forest of Death and sound the emergency alarm!"

"Yes ma'am!"

She communicates telepathically to Katsuyu, "Have Iruka and his team evacuate the disabled and the children as soon as possible!"

"Yes m'lady! I have attached myself to Iruka, and we're working on it now."

"Good, I don't want the Academy students anywhere near this battle."

Tsunade leads Sakura, Yamato, Kakashi, and Team Ten into the Forest of Death, leaving Hiyori, Naruto, Sai, and Team Eight at the eastern gate.

Two of the Menos Grande have switched themselves from scout mode, to attack mode, and are making a bee line straight for the eastern gate. Hiyori grabs her zanpakuto, but Naruto stops her. His eyes have changed from a deep blue, to a fiery red outlined in crimson; he has entered Sage Mode, combining it with the power of the Fox.

"I'm sorry, Miss Soul Reaper, but this one's mine!"

Naruto summons three clones, as Hiyori looks on in amusement, _'He's got to be fooling himself if he thinks he can take on a Menos Grande; even I'd have to use my shikai for that.'_

Sai calls the warning, "Naruto's releasing the Rasen Shuriken!"

Hiyori looks on in awe as the boy holds a swirling disk of pure energy over his head. She looks on in horror as the giant Menos prepares to fire a cero. The ninja look on in anticipation, readying themselves for the backlash of the attacks.

"Naruto! It's a cero, look out!"

Naruto hurls the disk of energy at the same moment the Menos fires off its cero; to Hiyori's shock, the boys attack cuts right through the blood red cero, and embeds itself within the midsection of the Menos Grande. It expands then detonates, effectively cutting it in half.

She smiles, _'That attack still had plenty of power to spare; what a technique.'_

Hiyori begins to laugh, "Not bad Naruto, but the next one's mine! Let me show you how a soul reaper gets the job done!"

She raises her zanpakuto, "Reveal, the all seeing eye! Sekennomei!"

A blast of spirit energy surrounds the girl, taking the ninja off balance. A huge cyclone of blue energy pushes its way towards the sky, drawing the Menos Grande right towards her. Hiyori completes her metamorphosis, holding her zanpakuto above her head proudly.

Hinata stares at her sister in shock; her sword has changed, as well as her clothes. Instead of the traditional black robes of a soul reaper, her outfit was far more liberating. Her stomach and arms were bare, and her top fit snuggly against her breasts, showing a generous amount of cleavage. The outfit left little to the imagination, and Hinata felt a little embarrassed considering the care she took in covering her own body, in fear of drawing unwanted attention to herself.

Hiyori jumps straight into the air, her body seemingly flying; she stops right in front of the head of the Menos. Gripping her sword with both hands, she swings, effortlessly chopping the massive Menos Grande in half. Hinata looks on in shock; her eyes were wide, and her mouth was hanging open.

Naruto shakes his fist in rage and shouts, "Hey that's not fair! You can fly! I can't fly! I had to throw my technique all the way up there!"

Even Kurenai was speechless; she had seen soul reapers before, but never any this powerful. Hiyori executes a flash step, and lands right in front of the ninja; startling them once more.

"H-how did you do that?" stammers Kiba.

Hiyori smirks, "At this point I'm allowed to show off powers and abilities that should shock you people…besides, if I have to fight one more shadow clone, I might lose my mind…

…now, let's go kill some hollows!"

Hiyori disappears, with Team 8, Naruto and Sai close behind…

* * *

Tsunade and her group finally reaches the tower in the middle of the Forest of Death. The alarm inside the central tower was the closest, and was loud enough to warn the rest of the village. They had been lucky enough not to run into any of the strange looking creatures the soul reaper had referred to as hollows, but their luck was going to run out.

To the ninja's dismay, the center of the training ground was swarming with several ape-like hollows; and to make it through, they had no choice but to fight. Tsunade goes on ahead, leaving the two teams to fend for themselves.

Ino finds herself fighting back to back with her rival, Sakura. In all honesty, she wasn't ready for something like this, and she doubted that many of her comrades were either. But as a ninja, it was her duty to be prepared for anything, especially when her life and her home were at stake.

Surprisingly the hollows weren't hard to kill; as the soul reaper Hiyori had said, aiming for the head… their mask… was a definite way to kill them. More surprisingly, the hollows they encountered thus far had no more strength than an academy student, making them easy prey for expert ninja like Yamato and Kakashi.

The ape-like hollows were quickly killed, only to be replaced by a horde of insect hollows. The ninja suddenly find themselves surrounded by dozens of centipedes, ants, spiders, and scorpions.

Shikamaru takes out several with his Shadow Sewing jutsu, by aiming for their heads. Kakashi uses his Lightning Blade to mow down several at a time, and one punch from Sakura's mighty fists was all it took to do these hollows in. Despite their superior strength, the ninja find themselves outnumbered; every time they kill one of the creatures, two more take its place. Tsunade's jutsu required a steady stream of chakra in order to function… it was exhausting their chakra reserves very quickly.

Shikamaru stops, nearly collapsing onto the ground, "The Hokage's technique is troublesome, but I suppose it's the only way we can see to kill these things."

Beside him is his good friend Choji, "At least they're not hard to kill; with the whole village being able to see to fight these things, we'll win for sure!"

A few hundred yards away, Ino and Sakura double team a giant centipede hollow; Ino distracts it while Sakura strikes it from above with a chakra infused punch, slamming the hollow into the ground.

"Sakura look out! Behind you!"

A scorpion hollow almost blindsides the pinkette from behind; Ino rushes to tackle the hollow and sends it flying. She throws a kunai and nicks the hollows mask, causing it to crack. The mask shatters, giving the two kunoichi the shock of their lives.

"You've… You've got to be kidding me…" Ino mutters in disbelief. Sakura looks on, in equal horror.

The mask of the scorpion hollow has fallen away, revealing the face of what was once a human being. Tied around his neck was the unmistakable headband, marking the ninja as a member of the Hidden Leaf Village.

The hollow roars, the sounds of pain and anguish filling the air. The mask grows back into place, as the hollow lunges its huge tail forward in an attempt to impale the two girls. Ino and Sakura remain still, too shocked to move. A blinding light engulfs the hollow at the last second; Kakashi stands, his chidori infused arm forced through the hollows chest. It bellows, and then evaporates into nothingness.

He too, saw the whole ordeal; but he pushed his emotions aside, and attacked without mercy. Even though the soul reaper named Hiyori had said that the hollows had once been human, he had been under the impression that only evil people like Orochimaru became hollows when they died. He wasn't expecting to see the souls of good people become mindless monsters.

'_Obito… Jiraiya - sensei… Minato- sensei…Kushina- sensei... I hope all of you died with peace in your hearts…'_

He drops to one knee, and looks to the sky towards one of the massive Menos Grande, _'…it's scary to think that even good people can become monsters in death… and can end up a part of something like that.' _

The urgent screech from the alarm at the top of the mountain fills the air, as Tsunade makes her descent back down to the forest floor. The two teams stand in formation; they have killed all the hollows in the surrounding forest area.

'_There are so many of them'_, Tsunade thinks in disbelief. _'I'm just glad Katsuyu got to the rest of the ninja in time.'_

She can sense a large amount of hollows right outside the perimeter of the village. She leads the two teams on through the Forest of Death.

* * *

Iruka Umino barks orders left and right, while trying to evacuate the decrepit, the children, and the injured from the village. The village had just been rebuilt, and wasn't going to survive another full scale attack.

With Katsuyu on his back, the power of the Hokage flowing within him, he can see the otherwise invisible monsters in front of him.

In the center of the village, Team Guy has their hands full trying to keep the hollows at bay. While they weren't hard to kill, the problem was that more of them kept popping back up after every attack.

**Neji had been the first to detect the impending danger, performing Tsunade's secret jutsu, he immediately breaks from his teammates. He kills as many of the creatures as he can on his own before rejoining them.**

**From a distance he can see Naruto cutting down one of the giant hollows with his Rasen Shuriken. A moment later he sees Hiyori's blue spirit energy towering towards the heavens like a bright blue cyclone. He gasps, watching his deceased cousin fly into the air like a missile, then effortlessly cleave the massive hollow in two with one swing of her sword.**

"It's no use! There must be thousands of these things!" yelled Tenten.

"We must not give up! Through the power of youth we can win!" cried Lee.

Guy nods his head in agreement, though it was only through Katsuyu, and the power of the Hokage that they could even see the creatures in the first place.

"**Just what in the world are those things, Lady Katsuyu?" Guy had asked.**

"**I do not know…" replied the slug.**

"…**Lady Tsunade called them hollows, based on the information she received from the soul reaper. "**

"**Soul reaper?"**

"**But this can't be ninjutsu or genjutsu…" replied Tenten, as a small explosion rips the area. **

"…**We wouldn't even be able to see these things if it weren't for the Hokage." **

"**That's because this isn't ninjutsu or genjutsu; those things are real." **

**The group turns; it was Neji…**

"**Neji, what do know about these things? And about this soul reaper?" asked Guy. **

"**I know the soul reaper; her name is Hiyori… she's Lady Hinata's twin sister." **

**His teammates stare at him in shock; Neji quickly finishes, "Lady Hiyori has been dead for the last seventeen years; she only recently reappeared because she wanted to see the family she never got have…"**

"… **these creatures are called hollows; and as I recall, they are the corrupted souls of the dead… or essentially… ghosts. It's Lady Hiyori's job to ferry these souls to the afterlife, but there's just too many of them. We must help her, or our village is going to be destroyed again!" **

Like many of the other ninja in the village, Team Guy finds themselves trying to accomplish the impossible… and that was to protect the village from a supernatural force.

* * *

Shizune arrives at the Hokage Tower with record speed. She dashes up the main stairwell, opens the large wooden doors of the main entrance, and then rushes down the corridor to the office of the Konoha Council.

Shizune throws open the door to the council chamber, already finding Councilman Homura Mitokado and Councilwoman Koharu Utatane up and alert.

"We have a situation!" cries Shizune.

"Is it the Akatsuki again?" asks Councilman Mitokado.

Shizune shakes her head, "I can't explain it, so please, take Katsuyu and see for yourselves."

She hands them each a slug; Councilwoman Utatane turns and stares out the window, nearly falling back out of sheer fright.

"it… can't be…" she said softly.

"What are these things?" demands Mitokado.

Shizune bows, "I have come to learn that these creatures are called hollows… souls of the deceased that have turned themselves into monsters… this is based on what the soul reaper has told us."

Utatane gasps, "There's a soul reaper in the village!"

She nods, "Yes, her name is Hiyori Hyuuga…. She was a member of the Hyuuga clan."

"Was?"

Shizune glances at the floor, "… apparently she's been dead for nearly twenty years."

Mitokado smirks, "I see."

He turns to Utatane, the old woman is still looking out the window with a forlorn expression on her face. She turns, and looks the councilman right in the eye.

"Homura, do you remember the tales that Hashirama- sensei used to tell us as children?"

He shakes his head, "Don't tell you actually believed those stories, Koharu…"

"Um… what stories?" interrupts Shizune.

"Long ago, back when Councilman Homura and I were young, the First Hokage used to tell us stories… one was of a legend concerning soul reapers…"

Utatane ignores the scornful look she receives from Mitokado and continues, "As the legend goes, when the Sage of the Six Paths defeated the Ten Tailed Beast, and created the Moon, he received help from the soul reapers."

"A silly legend; folklore at best; and these hollows, do you believe that the soul reapers sent them here to destroy us?" said Mitokado.

She shakes her head, "No! Hashirama – sensei had always said that the soul reapers were allied with humankind! The soul reapers in the legend were of the highest caliber. They were the strongest of their kind, and the rulers of the afterlife… one could tell them apart by the white haori robes they wore."

'_White haori robes…'_

Shizune gasps, "When Hiyori came to the village, she wasn't alone; there was another soul reaper. Her name was Soifon… she said that this area, the Elemental Nations, were a part of her jurisdiction. She was wearing a white haori robe like the one in the legend!"

"If what you say is true, then why would someone like her come here?"

Shizune closes her eyes, trying to piece together all the details, _**'**__**There's an extremely dangerous man that the Soul Society has been chasing for nearly a century and a half now. We believe that he may be in cahoots with your enemies.' **_

"She said that the soul reapers were pursing another soul reaper that betrayed them a century and a half ago… that's why they came to our village, to learn more about Madara and his plan."

"What did you tell them?" asked Mitokado.

"We didn't give away any of the villages secrets, but we divulge information about the Fourth Great Ninja War, the ninja alliance between the Elemental Nations, and Madara's Moon's Eye Plan with the tailed beasts."

"While I still don't believe in many of Hashirama- sensei's stories, I believe that the presence of these hollows, as well as the soul reaper is proof enough…" said Mikokado.

"…If this megalomaniac has really teamed up with Madara against us, then we can assume that our allies are in danger as well. We must alert the other Elemental Nations at once!"

"What should we do about our village?" asks Shizune.

"Where's Tsunade?" asks Utatane.

Shizune points towards the Forest of Death "She's out there; she was the one that activated the alarm. Apparently she can see these hollows, and she knows a jutsu that has allowed us to see into the spirit world in order to fight them."

Utatane smiles and turns to look out the window, "That's not a surprise; apparently the First Hokage could see spirits as well… at least by his own claim…"

"… as for us, I have faith in ninja of this village. We survived the Invasion of Pain, and we'll survive this as well… the Will of Fire burns brightly here."

The Council orders Shizune to send word to other Hidden Villages to warn them of an impending attack. The rest of villagers continue to try and accomplish the impossible… and that was to defeat an invisible enemy.


	9. Tsunade's Desperate Situation

**Tsunade's Desperate Situation **

In the rift located above the Hidden Leaf Village, is the realm where hollows dwell; Hueco Mundo. Hundreds of hollows have attacked the village using a technique called the garganta; a portal which connects Hueco Mundo to the world of the living.

From her perch, overlooking the carnage below, the 3rd Neo-Espada Rena Tesla is not happy. Even though it was too be expected that the ninja would be able to see her hollow army and defend themselves, she was still expecting total annihilation. She looks on in frustration as she feels the spirit energy of her army rapidly depleting.

She quickly summons her commanding officers; to her dismay, only half of her adjucha commanders answer her call.

"What the hell is going on? What happened to the rest of you?"

The adjucha's bow in front of her; even though Rena herself was one of Lord Aizen's underlings, her power was overwhelming… even to them. One of them manages to stutter a response.

"T-there's a soul reaper in the village! She's very powerful, a seated officer without doubt; possibly even a lieutenant!"

Rena frowns, _'A soul reaper? Then the Soul Society is here after all! No matter… I will deal with this soul reaper myself…' _

It was a bad situation; not only was her army of hollows being wiped out by these wretched ninja, but now she had the Soul Society to contend with.

"Pull the remaining hollows back into Hueco Mundo!" she orders. "I will deal with this soul reaper myself…"

"…Now go!"

The adjuchas waste no time, and disappear from sight. Rena turns and opens a garganta; she stares into the vast darkness of the void.

'_Get ready soul reaper, I'm coming for you…' _

Slithering through the forest, the enormous snake raises its ugly head before slamming its open jaws onto the unsuspecting rabbit hollow, killing it instantly. Standing on top of the enormous reptile, Anko Mitarashi raises her head; she grits her teeth and commands the snake to move forward.

This was insanity… even by her standards. The village has fallen into chaos, thanks in part to these weird monsters, which supposedly were the ghosts of dead souls. Without the power of the Hokage, she wouldn't even be able to see to fight these things at all.

Suddenly, without warning, her giant snake summoning contorts and explodes in a shower of blood, as a huge blade slices off its head. Anko drops to the ground; her senses on high alert. She feels the giant blade upon her, as it decapitates her and rips through the tree behind her. A second later, a hollow drops to the ground.

'_Pathetic, and to think Lord Aizen was actually worried about these humans.' _

The hollow gasps in surprise as the girl's decapitated body explodes in a puff of smoke, revealing a severed log; the girl reappears behind it a moment later. The hollow turns, and looks the girl in the eye…

"Impressive… you surprise me human…"

Anko crouches; the adrenaline pumping through her body, as she narrows her eyes at the hollow. It was almost humanoid in appearance; it had elongated legs that reminded her of a frog, and its arms were long, reaching to the ground. Two giant blades replaced its arms and hands.

Most disturbing to Anko, this creature was vastly different from the others. Lady Katsuyu had described the creatures as hollows, and so far they were beastly, and lacked any real intelligence. This was the first hollow she's encountered that could speak and act rationally.

She eyeballs the creature "Are you a hollow too?"

"Of course not!" it bellows in a masculine voice.

"…I am an adjucha; I am far stronger than those weak pieces of garbage!"

"Are you the one responsible for this attack?"

The hollow shakes its head, "It doesn't really matter, you'll be dead soon enough."

Suddenly, it disappears, moving almost too quickly for Anko to follow…

'_He's fast!' _

At the last second, she draws her kunai. She feels a strong presence suddenly overwhelming her; as she sees a strange blade intercepting the hollow, forcing it back. The hollow slams into the ground, and quickly rights itself. He looks, coming face to face with Hiyori.

'_The soul reaper… I've finally found you…' _

Anko gasps; the girl moved so fast, appearing out of nowhere. She was hovering in the air right above the enraged hollow. Anko eyes widen as she looks at the girls face for the first time…

"Hinata…wha?"

"That's not Lady Hinata…" whispers a voice beside her. It was Katsuyu; the small slug clone moves from Anko's vest, and up onto her shoulder.

"…she's Lady Hiyori, her twin sister… she's a soul reaper."

"A soul reaper, huh?"

Anko jumps, as Naruto and Sai appear right beside her. Hiyori has sent Hinata and her team ahead to join Tsunade. She can feel the Hokage traveling further away from the village; a heinous force was about to make an appearance, judging by the erratic fluctuations of spirit pressures in the atmosphere.

Hiyori eyes the hollow like a predator sizing up its prey. The adjucha turns its gaze from Hiyori to the two newcomers behind her; he instantly recognizes the blond haired boy as the Nine Tails jinjuriki.

"Well, well… a soul reaper, and the Nine Tails jinjuriki, Naruto Uzumaki…"

Naruto gasps, "Y-you know who I am?"

The hollow smiles, "Of course! You… or should I say the demon inside of you… is very important to my master's cause!"

Naruto growls, but Hiyori interrupts before he can say anything, "So, Sosuke Aizen is here after all?"

"You know the name of my master?"

Hiyori smirks, "Who the fuck do you think I am? Of course I know who he is, I am not some amateur!"

She begins to laugh manically, as blue spirit energy begins to envelope her body. The adjucha's eyes widen as he feels the sudden blunt force of her crushing spirit pressure. He takes a step back, and raises his blades in a defensive pose.

"I am Hiyori Hyuuga, the Lieutenant of the Fifth Division. Thank you for revealing to me the information about Aizen…

She smiles and points her zanpakuto directly at him, "… prepare to die!"

In desperation, the adjucha disappears, and launches an attack. Hiyori blocks his blades, and forces him into the sky. Naruto, Anko, and Sai watch from the ground, completely mesmerized.

Hiyori kicks the adjucha away; in frustration, he charges a large crimson cero and fires it at point blank range.

"Take this, bitch!"

Hiyori grins as she watches the cero close in on her, "Ha! Like that'll do anything!"

Charging her spirit energy, she reaches out and deflects the cero with her bare hand, knocking it back towards the ground. It detonates, uprooting trees, destroying rocks, and leaving a large crater in the ground.

"That's incredible!" shouted Anko, "She deflected that attack with just one hand!"

Naruto too, was equally amazed, but not at the girl's strength. With the power of the Fox, he could see every movement that was made in the air. It was the girl's bloodlust and sheer resolve that impressed him. And it wasn't resolve through hatred, but extreme confidence.

'_She's just toying with him… it'll be over soon.' _

In a mad rush of desperation, the adjucha makes one final stand; with its blades raised to kill, it charges. Hiyori activates her shikai's special ability… the invisible 360 degree sphere that allowed her to see an opponent's attack in all directions…

"…Mahi Shuuha…"

The adjucha suddenly finds his senses overwhelmed, as his body slows to a crawl…

'_What the hell… is this?' _

The adjucha looks up in horror, as Hiyori mercilessly slashes him across the chest with her sword. Her eyes hold no remorse whatsoever, as the adjucha falls to the ground and dies...

Whenever an opponent, or an attack, penetrates Senkennomei's sphere of sight, she activates her Mahi Shuuha technique; a high speed frequency which effectively slows down and eventually paralyzes an opponent's body, leaving them helpless within the sphere. The only way to overcome her shikai was to move faster than Hiyori.

Hiyori returns to the ground; she points to Anko, and then to Sai, "You two… go back to the village and provide backup for the other ninja; the infestation of hollows there is currently too much for them to handle."

Anko was about to protest but Sai stops her, "The Hokage herself put her in charge of all of us… an order from her must be carried out."

Naruto nods, as Anko reluctantly turns and follows Sai back towards the village…

"Naruto" said Hiyori, "Come with me… we're going to catch up with the Hokage Tsuande and her group. I've already sent Hinata and her team there as well."

Naruto nods, as moves quickly to follow her, _'This fight isn't over…'_ he thought

'…_not by a long shot.' _

On the opposite side of the Forest of Death, Tsunade leads herself outside of the limits of the village, and into the surrounding vegetation. She stops in the middle of a clearing, right next to a giant stream that runs parallel to village. Apart from Lady Katsuyu, she was currently alone; her protégé Sakura, Kakashi, Yamato, and Team Ten had fallen behind to clear the area of any remaining hollows.

'_The energy in the air… what's going on?'_

When the attack began, the energy in the sky had been fluctuating rapidly; she could feel the changes as hollows were destroyed, only to be replaced by numerous others. Every once in a while she would feel the presence of a more powerful hollow in the area… and even those would dissipate… the presence of the soul reaper nearby. But this feeling was different…

'_It almost seems as if, the hollows are retreating…'_ she thinks, looking around.

"M'lady…" says a voice next to her. It was Katsuyu; the little slug slithers its way onto Tsunade's shoulder.

"… The hollows are in full retreat… they're pulling away across the village. What does this mean? Have we won?"

Tsunade remains silent for a moment; things seemed too quiet… too ominous. Her instincts were screaming at her that a bigger threat was soon to make its presence felt. Even the soul reaper, with all of her power, seemed to be wary, and had been treating this invasion very lightly.

"I'm ... I'm not sure…"

Tsunade's mouth falls open in shock as the sky suddenly rips apart in several places; all of the spirit energy from the hollows suddenly disappears as if an airborne plague had suddenly wiped them all out at once. And then the voids in the sky disappear… and silence reins once more.

Suddenly, Tsunade screams in panic as she's hit with a force so powerful, it drives her to her knees…

"This spiritual pressure… it's overwhelming!"

She's never felt anything like this in her life. All of the hollows…and all of the soul reapers she's ever encountered; none of their powers had come anywhere close to this intensity. In frustration, she uses her chakra to forcefully right herself.

Through past experiences she has found that by using her vast chakra reserves, she can negate the powers of the spirit realm. She had since formed a hypothesis that the powers of the World of the Living, chakra, and the spirit energy from the World of the Dead, in a sense, must be from both sides of the same coin.

The powers of normal hollows, and low level soul reapers did not affect her when negated with her chakra, so for this spirit energy to actually force her to her knees… this creature… or thing, if it was coming from the same source, would easily be a kage level opponent had it been flowing from a living person.

Tsunade narrows her eyes to the horizon, as she sees a figure descending from the sky; it was a young woman. Upon inspection, she finds her body to be much like her own; she had long blond hair, a toned torso, similar height, and large breasts. Her outfit was white, and did not leave much to the imagination. She looked human enough… save for two things. First, her right eye socket was covered in bone, and the upper part of her head had what appeared to be a fox's ear sticking out of her skull. Secondly, there was a large black hole in the middle of the woman's stomach, and it was eerily similar to the one's found on hollows.

The woman descends from the sky, and lands a few yards in front of her. The woman's eyes were cold, even though her body remained stoic. She was the first to speak...

"I am impressed; normally my spirit energy paralyzes anyone that feels it, and yet you're still standing. Not only that, but you can actually see me, can't you?"

Tsunade remains motionless, but decides to satisfy her curiosity, "What are you? Are you a hollow?"

The woman laughs speaking in a heavy French accent, "Hardly… I am an arrancar…" she looks right into Tsunade eyes, as the Hokage feels a chill shoot straight up her spine.

"…My name is Rena Tesla… I am ranked 3rd of Lord Aizen's Neo- Espada…."

Tsunade's eyes widen, _'No! I-it couldn't be…'_

"Tell me, Rena Telsa… this Aizen… he's the man, the terrorist, the Soul Society's been looking for; isn't he?"

Rena gasps, "H-how do know that? Unless…you! It was you! You're the one who conspired with the soul reaper!"

Tsunade grins, "Of course I did! As the leader of this village, it's my job to protect it!"

Rena glares, and then begins to laugh so manically, it takes Tsunade completely off guard…

"You're Tsunade Senju aren't you?" Rena asks, sporting a devious grin.

"…Well… this makes my job so much easier!"

Tsunade gasps, "Then you're the one who attacked my village, why?"

Rena shrugs, "It's nothing personal; it would seem as if my master's partners want this village eliminated… don't feel bad, every one of the 5 Great Hidden Villages will be destroyed… yours is merely the first."

Tsunade grits her teeth, _'Madara Uchiha! You bastard!'_

"I'm guessing you're after Naruto, and the Nine Tailed Fox, right?"

Rena nods, "That's correct... although, it doesn't really matter. You see, it seems that there are also a few of you pesky ninja in this village that Lord Aizen's partners do not want left alive… so I've been ordered to kill all of you…"

Tsuande's eyes widen as a bright yellow energy suddenly engulfs the girl, as the mere presence of her power threatens to crush her. Tsunade ignites her body with blue chakra in retaliation; the two swirling masses of energy send shockwaves through the ground, as masses of dirt swirl violently around the two women.

Rena smiles and rests a hand on her sword, "… And do you know what Tsunade Senju, leader of the Village Hidden in the Leaves? You were the first on my list to be annihilated!"

She disappears, catching Tsunade completely off guard. Rena draws her sword, and slashes her adversary deep across the chest. Tsunade looks down, only to see the blood explode from the massive wound…

"Lady Tsunade!" screams Katsuyu as Tsunade collapses to one knee, _'What was that? She moved so fast so suddenly…'_

Rena raises her sword, which was covered in the Hokage's blood. She turns her head towards Tsunade and frowns, "I meant to cut you to the bone; I guess I didn't swing hard enough."

Tsunade stands and turns to face her foe, "I must admit, you caught me off guard; I won't make that mistake again."

Rena's eyes widen as the diamond on Tsunade's forehead disappears, replaced by elaborate purple markings, as her wound begins close. The markings disappear, and the diamond is soon replaced…

'_What kind of technique was that? Some sort of regeneration? Her wound is completely healed!'_

"That's some technique; I admit I underestimated you, Tsunade Senju."

The two women stare each other down, in a mental tug of war. Tsuande takes a stance, as Rena sheaths her sword.

Tsunade strikes first, taking a swing at the girl with her chakra infused fist… Rena ducks as the fist breaks the ground apart beneath her.

'_Unreal! Lord Madara wasn't kidding about her super strength…' _

She smiles, _'…but, it's nothing that I can't handle.' _

She uses sonido, and gets behind Tsunade before she can even sense that she's moved. Rena flattens her with a punch of her own, and sends the Hokage sprawling onto the ground.

"What? I didn't even see her move! Katsuyu, did you?"

The little slug shakes her head. Tsunade swore; she couldn't afford to lose here. Tsunade puts up her guard, trying desperately to figure out the nature of her opponent's technique. She was too slow to keep up; her great strength was useless.

Rena dodges another chakra infused punch, and sends Tsunade to the ground once more, "What's the matter Tsunade Senju? Are you too slow to catch me?"

Tsunade picks herself up and wipes the blood from her mouth, "Is it teleportation?"

Rena looked offended, "Ha, like I would use such a cheap trick! It's called sonido, a move elementary to every arrancar. They're no gimmicks involved; it nothing but pure speed!"

Tsuande frowns, _'How can I beat her if I can't catch her?' _

Normally her super strength would be more than enough to finish most jonin level opponents; however, she wasn't known for her speed. Tsunade contemplates using lightning release; but the techniques would put too much of a strain on her already worn out chakra reserves. Her opponent was way too fast, and gathering chakra would leave her wide open for a finishing blow. She couldn't get close enough to use medical ninjutsu, and using poisons was absolutely out of the question…

…Then the answer hit her… it was so simple she felt like smacking herself, _'of course, clones! If she's anything like a soul reaper, then she won't be able to tell the difference between myself and my clones!' _

She summons two shadow clones and attacks again; confused, Rena attacks the clone closest to her. She watches in disbelief as it explodes in a cloud of smoke.

'_So that's the clone technique these ninja use that Lord Aizen warned me about.' _

Tsunade summons another clone, testing the waters against her opponent; it appears that Kakashi had been right… these spirit beings really could not tell the difference between a clone and an actual person… that gave them a huge advantage.

Rena was starting to get pissed off; in frustration she begins to strike wildly, trying in vain to find a way take out all the clones at once. Even though Tsunade did not have the inhuman chakra reserves that Naruto had, creating ten shadow clones was no problem for her… even with depleted reserves.

Rena defeats all the clones except for one, _'Now's my chance!'_

"You're mine Tsunade Senju!"

Lunging forward, she plants her fist into the skull of her adversary, sending the Hokage sprawling against the rocky ground. She watches in shock as the clone explodes, replaced by a log. The real Tsunade reappears behind her and strikes her neck with the back of her hand, sending an electric jolt through the core of her nervous system.

Rena collapses to the ground; she could no longer move her arms or legs; was she paralyzed?

Tsunade smiles, "I've fried the sensor and receiving cells in your nervous system; your brain won't respond to your body like it normally would. It's over, Rena Tesla…"

She begins to laugh, "I commend you Tsunade Senju, you truly are worthy of the title Hokage; the strongest fighter in your village…however… I realize now why I was hand chosen to lead my mission."

Her body begins to glow, as yellow energy begins to pour from her paralyzed body; Tsunade watches in shock as jolts of electricity begin to dance back and forth across the woman's body. In horror, she watches as the Neo- Espada regains control of her motor skills; she stands, and turns to face the Hokage with a maniacal grin on her face.

"Had it been anyone else other than me, you would have won…Are you surprised? I absorbed the electric impulse that you sent into my body, and recharged and reset my motor nerves with my own electricity. You're outmatched, Tsunade… you can't beat me…"

Tsunade grits her teeth in determination, _'Dammit! What do I do? She's right… I am outmatched…'_

Rena laughs, "Come to think of it, you look pretty young to be in your fifties. Is that even your real body? An old hag like you could never match up to a beautiful, young physical specimen such as me!"

Tsunade feels herself turning red with rage; her blood was boiling, she had to force herself to remain calm.

She breaths… this was going to drain the last of her chakra before she entered the "red line" of her reserves, _'Alright… Naruto… this one's for you.'_

Gathering strength, she summons another clone…

"Again? Is this all you can do, Tsunade?"

She draws her sword, and quickly cuts down both the clones. Her eye twitches as both clones disappear into a cloud of smoke.

"Bitch, where the Hell are you!"

"Here!"

Rena gasps as the rock beside her transforms into her adversary; leaving her completely open. Tsunade pounds her with everything she's got, a combo of rights and lefts, an uppercut followed by a vicious roundhouse kick that slams Rena's body into the ground. Tsunade drops to the ground, completely exhausted.

Rena groans, as she struggles to her feet, _'She transformed herself into a rock! But when? How? This is getting ridiculous, I won't lose to her!'_

"Condamnez-vous, vous putain des feuilles!"

She spews the words with venom, as she wipes the blood from the side of her mouth. "You think you've won? Occupé faible imbecile! You wouldn't stand a chance against me in my released form!"

Tsunade's eyes widen, _'Released form? She's been toying with me this entire time?'_

Laughing, the 3rd Neo- Espada raises her arm and points her hand at the defenseless Hokage; Tsunade's eyes widen as a ball of pure energy forms in the palm of the woman's hand.

"Die!"

Rena fires a massive golden cero at point blank range; using the last of her strength, Tsunade slams her fists into the ground to forcefully summon a boulder to protect herself. The energy blast slams into the giant rock, instantly annihilating it. The blast sends Tsunade sprawling backwards, she lands with a heavy thud against the ground…

'_I can't give up, I won't! As the Hokage, I pledge my life to protect this village! Even if I have to put myself into another coma to do so…' _

Tsuande struggles to one knee, "Let me ask you something, Rena Tesla… You say you're the 3rd Neo- Espada; does mean you were the 3rd of your kind to be born, or is it some kind of ranking… like the military?"

She smiles, and tilts her head a little to the side, "Not that it's any of your business, but it's neither. It means that I'm the 3rd strongest from the top… so even if, by some miracle, you did manage to kill me there are two others that are even stronger than me!"

Tsunade laughs catching Rena off guard, "Then how foolish of you to think that just because I'm the Hokage that I must be the strongest ninja in this village!"

She stands, and begins to gather what little remained of her chakra for a final strike…

"Lady Tsunade!" came a tiny voice beside her; it was Katsuyu, "…you're exhausted! If you do this you could die!"

She laughs lightly, "If I die, then perhaps the soul reapers will be merciful with me… I haven't exactly lived the life of a saint."

With a loud battle cry she charges in, glowing fist raised for a final attack… Rena smirks; preparing herself, she catches the Hokage's fist with her own. Tsunade gasps, as the force from the chakra implodes the ground beneath them, leaving a crater.

Tsunade was horrified; Rena smiles, her own fist was now glowing in that same sinister golden energy that always seemed to envelope her body.

"Bala…", she slams her fist into Tsunades skull, sending her careening backwards; her body bouncing end over end over the rocky ground before finally slamming into a giant boulder some distance behind them.

Tsunade spasms, and begins to cough up blood, _'It's over… she won, I lost…'_

"Lady Tsuande!" cries Katsuyu, "…speak to me!"

Rena closes the gap between them almost instantaneously with sonido. Reaching down, she grabs Tsunade by the neck and hoists her to her feet. With one arm she lifts the near lifeless body of the Hokage above her head, and begins to choke the life out of her.

"Odd… I expected more from a kage level ninja … you disappoint me, Tsunade Senju…"

A scream behind her catches her attention; teams seven and ten had arrived. Upon seeing the near lifeless body of her master being choked out, Sakura had screamed bloody murder. Despite the heavy protests from her comrades, the enraged pinkette charges; her chakra infused fist glowing.

Rena smirks, and chucks the now lifeless body of the Hokage to the side, readying herself for another chakra powered punch… just like before, she reaches out and catches the girl's fist; the compressed chakra making another impact crater beneath them.

Sakura stares like a deer caught in a set of headlights, _'Impossible…'_

With one swift move, Rena grabs her sword and cuts the girl down as hard as she can; from behind the rest of the ninja watch horrified as Sakura body explodes in a gusher of blood. Sakura's body slumps to the ground; blood was pouring like a river out of the gaping wound across her chest. Rena kicks the body away, sending the pinkette sprawling backwards.

Ino screams, and immediately comes to her aid, "No! No! No! No!"

Kakashi, Yamato, Shikamaru, and Choji get into stance, now very wary of the strange woman's incredible power. Kakashi stops them before another reckless incident can occur… they were going to have to work as a team in order to defeat her efficiently…

Rena stares, catching the sight of the arrival of three more blurs; team eight had reached the battlefield.

"Oh no! We're too late!" yells Kiba.

"Lady Tsunade! And Sakura too!"

With her byakugan activated, Hinata can't see any type of chakra surrounding the woman, which meant that she was a spirit, like her sister…

Ignoring the frantic cries of her teammates to stay away, Hinata rushes onto the battlefield to retrieve the body of the fallen Hokage. She drags Tsunade away from Rena, and lays her next to Sakura.

"Sakura you idiot…" cries Ino through tears. She had the mystical palm activated, and was desperately trying to save her friends life. Despite being heavily injured, Hinata deduces that Sakura did have a chance of survival… she was lucky to have received medical attention right away… it was Lady Tsunade that worried her. The Hokage's chakra was now sitting on zero…

"How powerful of an opponent are we facing? She defeated the Hokage, and took out Sakura like she was nothing!" Ino wailed.

Rena laughs, "A hundred more of you wouldn't make any difference! All of you will be dead in the end!"

She charges another cero, and fires it at the group of ninja to her left. They dodge and roll out of the way, as the blast rips up the landscape beneath them…

She then turns her attention to Hinata and Ino, who were caring for the Hokage and her fallen student, "I guess you four will be the first to die!"

She charges another cero, and fires it… Ino screams and covers Sakura's body protectively, while Hinata covers her eyes…and waits for death… only it never comes.

"Que l'enfer?" cries the 3rd Neo- Espada.

At the last second, the energy beam dissipates into thin air. The two kunoichi recover and look up; Ino gasps as Hinata smiles in relief…

"That was a close one…eh, little sister?"

Hiyori Hyuuga stands in front of them…zanpakuto drawn. Blue energy was pouring off her body in torrents…

"It's… it's about time…" Tsunade said weakly, before unconsciousness overtook her.


End file.
